The founding military forces of every dynasty were extremely powerful.

To be able to conquer the Ming Dynasty, one must have made rapid progress in the later stages of the war. As the victory progressed, the soldiers also became more experienced and had strong self-confidence.

Confidence is of paramount importance to the military.

The bravery of one person is only reflected in the individual, but when the number of people reaches thousands or tens of thousands, it becomes a complete fight of momentum.

During the Han Dynasty, people liked to fight in front of the army. It seemed to be a personal competition, but in fact it was a struggle for momentum.

From the perspective of later generations, it is extremely unrealistic for a general to chase and kill hundreds of people, but in the era of cold weapons, it was not uncommon.

This is the importance of momentum.

Now, there is no need to say much about the momentum of the Ming army.

In this era of alternation between cold weapons and hot weapons, bravery in the army is still very important.

Details, including the soldier's size and armament, are also key.

Zhu Ying wanted to improve the combat effectiveness of the Ming army, so he had to start with food and training.

Xuanjiawei camp.

It has been nearly four months since Zhu Ying last came here, but the training in the camp has never stopped.

With full time off and plenty of meat and rice, every soldier of the Black Armor Guard has become completely different.

Even in October when the weather had turned cold, the soldiers in the camp continued to train, and the cold wind was nothing to them.

The moment Zhu Ying walked into the camp wearing the crown prince's uniform.

The soldiers who were conducting various exercises quickly began to assemble at the command of their superiors.

As drums sounded, sixteen columns were formed under Zhu Ying's watch. It only took a quarter of an hour from the start of the order to the end of the assembly.

Today's quarter of an hour is equivalent to fifteen minutes in later times.

In the era of cold weapons, such assembly speed was beyond imagination.

If it were in other garrisons, it would be very good if all the troops could be assembled and lined up like this within two quarters of an hour, and normally it would take about half an hour.

"The Black Armor Guards greet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

Following a loud shout from the flag bearer in front of the formation, all the soldiers knelt on one knee, raised their heads and roared together.

According to the original military etiquette, soldiers should bow their heads to show respect to their superiors, generals, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, or His Majesty the Emperor.

But Zhu Ying felt that this was not a good idea. With his head lowered, he felt that he did not have that strong sense of oppression. Since last year's military parade, all soldiers have been required to hold their heads high and chests out when saluting, even if they are kneeling on one knee.

Seeing this, Zhu Ying did not say anything, but took off his robe.

"Your Highness, the weather is a bit chilly."

The eunuch Guo Zhong, who was in charge of writing, tried to persuade him, but despite what he said, he still respectfully took the robe.

Zhu Ying smiled and said, "Do you think I grew up in luxury? This bit of cold wind is not even a cool breeze for me."

After saying this, he walked down from the reviewing platform and walked towards the formation.

This scene made the eunuch Guo Zhong, who was in charge of writing, so anxious that he broke out in a sweat.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is of such a high status, how could he stand with these warriors?

These warriors stink. They were sweating profusely just now. The smell is so strong. How can we deal with it? It is really disrespectful.

But His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was very strict with the rules, especially at this time, Guo Zhong knew that he could only watch and dared not say a word.

The Jinyiwei around saw this and looked at each other, a little hesitant, but did not dare to act rashly. They could only watch it all with nervous expressions.

Because the soldiers below, with their wolf-like and tiger-like eyes, gave them a feeling of insecurity, which was due to their nature as warriors.

At this moment, the Black Armor Guards still knelt on one knee with their chests clenched.

According to the requirements of the military camp, they must always keep their eyes on the expression of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. This is the first military order of the Black Armor Guards, and it must not be violated when receiving instructions.

The soldiers who can stand in the front row are naturally the bravest.

When Zhu Ying came forward, he shouted, "Stand up!"

The sound was like thunder, resounding throughout the entire military camp. No one could have imagined that such powerful strength was contained in the seemingly frail body of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

This roar would have made even the loudest soldier take a deep breath and prepare for a long time before shouting out loud. However, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not do any of these things, and the roar was as loud as thunder in an instant.

Guo Zhong, who was on the podium, was so frightened that his body trembled and he just knelt on the ground.

Under normal circumstances, someone might laugh at his cowardice, but at this moment, no one would pay attention to him.

At this moment, Zhu Ying has already attracted everyone's attention.

After this voice, more than 5,000 Black Armor Guards who were kneeling on one knee stood up in an orderly manner, their eyes still fixed on His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Zhu Ying's height was considered acceptable. According to the calculation method of later generations, his net height was about 1.78 meters.

However, unlike the cloth shoes of ordinary soldiers, Zhu Ying was wearing special boots. There was no doubt that these boots had some built-in height increase, so his current height was about 1.82 meters.

The average height of the Ming Dynasty people is about 1.7 meters. The Xuanjia Guards are naturally taller, about 1.75 meters. There are also strong men of 1.8 meters, but most of them are not as tall as Zhu Ying.

Zhu Ying took a few steps forward and walked straight in front of a strong man.

He stared at the soldier. Under Zhu Ying's gaze, the soldier could not bear it and lowered his head slightly to avoid Zhu Ying's gaze.

Zhu Ying said calmly, "Duan San, I heard that you are the most courageous soldier in my Xuanjia Guards, and you have always been in the top ten in the entire military camp in various competitions. How come you don't even have the courage to look at me?"

Duan San had never expected that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince actually knew his name. At this moment, his heart was filled with excitement.

However, after hearing the meaning of His Royal Highness's words, Duan San hesitated for a moment, then knelt on one knee and replied, "I dare not look Your Highness in the eye."

Zhu Ying asked: "Why not? Have you forgotten the first military order of the Black Armor Guard?"

Duan San replied: "I dare not forget. I am not afraid of life or death, but Your Highness is the supreme being in my heart. If I look into Your Highness's eyes, it would be disrespectful in my heart."

"I am willing to accept the punishment."

What Duan San meant by this was that he would rather accept punishment than offend the prince in his heart.

Zhu Ying smiled and said, "I taught you to read and write, but I don't know what's going on now. But you've also learned to speak well."

"Okay, get up."

No one knew whether Zhu Ying's words were a test or had other intentions, but it was obvious that Duan San's words made Zhu Ying very satisfied.

After asking Duan San, Zhu Ying started walking in the formation.

He looked at every soldier seriously, and every soldier, when meeting the gaze of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, would lower their heads slightly and avoid looking directly at him, just like Duan San.

But at the same time, Zhu Ying's appearance was also deeply engraved in their minds.

And this is exactly the effect Zhu Ying wanted.

He did this not for show, but to make every soldier of the Black Armor Guard remember what he looked like.

This walk took nearly half an hour, about forty to fifty minutes.

Zhu Ying did not walk very fast. He tried his best to let every soldier see his appearance clearly.

In ancient times, the mobilization of troops was based only on tiger talismans and not on people.

Even the emperor, even Zhu Yuanzhang, could not mobilize an army that did not know him without the tiger talisman.

Zhu Ying's current actions are obviously intended to put himself above the tiger talisman.

The most important thing is that the Xuanjiawei are his own personal guards, and appropriate appearances can increase his intimacy and familiarity among the soldiers.

Of course, the more than 5,000 Xuanjiawei now are no longer the first batch of Xuanjiawei.

Strictly speaking, it is already the third batch.

The first batch of Black Armor Guards that Zhu Ying had trained with before have basically become the general flags of various guards, centurions, or even thousand-household military officers.

Many of the second batch went to the Ming Military Academy, and some were in a similar situation to the first batch.

Zhu Ying's arrival today is to allow the third batch of new generation of Xuanjiawei to have enough understanding of himself.

From this aspect, it can also be seen that Zhu Ying has already deployed at least 7,000 middle-level officers in the current Ming army.

These 7,000 middle-level officers of the Ming Dynasty were all from the Xuanjia Guard, and they also represented Zhu Ying's authority in the army.

In this situation of continuous transition, even if Zhu Ying himself has no experience in leading troops in battle, he will still have great influence on military power.

This was Zhu Ying's way of infiltrating secretly and seizing the group of noble generals from Huaixi.

This is an open conspiracy, and there is nothing that can be done even if someone sees through it.

Every Black Armor Guard here is incomparable to ordinary soldiers in terms of comprehensive qualities in all aspects.

Moreover, those who join the Xuanjia Guard are considered new recruits, but in fact, those who can join the Xuanjia Guard are not those who know nothing and can come in. Only those who have truly experienced fighting on the battlefield are eligible to be selected.

After daily systematic training in Xuanjiawei, lectures by teachers, and ideological education on loyalty by teachers.

Generally, after three months of training, they can become real Xuanjia Guards.

Three months is not a long time, but it is enough to change a person. Besides, this world belongs to the family and the country, and the imperial power is granted by heaven.

The soldiers will not have any resistance in their minds, but will only admire him more.

The teachers of Xuanjiawei are a special kind of existence, equivalent to the political commissars in later generations.

What we have to do every day is to constantly teach the soldiers about the deeds of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, so as to guide them in the correct thinking.

To put it simply, it is to form a personal cult of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

After walking around, Zhu Ying did not return to the platform, but walked to the center of the team and started speaking.

"A few days ago, I heard reports from the military complaining that the intensity of the training was too high. It seemed that the soldiers felt that they could not handle it, so they complained a lot."

"Who came up with the idea of ​​complaining about the difficulty of this kind of training? It's just torture."

"Today I will just say that the training standards for the Black Armor Guards have always been set by me personally. If anyone has any opinions, you can report them to me, and I will allow you to have a chat with me in person."

Zhu Ying's voice was high and powerful, and because it was in the center of the formation, basically all the soldiers could hear it.

These words also made many soldiers lower their heads in shame, because in the beginning, many people had similar complaints.

Zhu Ying continued, "Do you think my requirements are a bit too high, or do you think I don't understand how hard it is to practice here? Even if I sit in a luxurious palace, wearing fine clothes and eating delicious food, why shouldn't I eat meat porridge?"

"I came here today to tell every soldier in the army that your Crown Prince is not someone who doesn't use his military prowess."

After saying that, he took the bow from a soldier.

So he walked forward.

In the Ming Dynasty's current army, there are no hard bows anymore. They have been replaced by soft bows such as hornbeam bows.

The range of a soft bow is naturally much shorter than that of a hard bow.

It's only about fifty steps, and the actual damage reaches its peak at thirty steps.

This is naturally because with the emergence and development of firearms, the combination of multiple weapons has become a major trend in combat, and a single hard bow can no longer meet the demand.

Because of the relationship with the Mongols, Zhu Yuanzhang changed the disadvantage of the previous Song Dynasty which was mainly infantry, and mainly relied on cavalry, pursuing speed, excitement and flexibility. In this regard, the soft bow obviously has a greater advantage.

The Mongols also used soft bows rather than hard bows.

This is to improve the accuracy and precision of the strike at the expense of distance.

Today, the Ming cavalry can be described by eight words: soft bows, long arrows, fast horses, and light swords.

Infantry is the mainstream of the Ming Dynasty. With the cooperation of artillery and muskets, they cannot charge forward casually. In the battle with Mongolian cavalry, they are like a turtle shell with long-range damage, making it impossible for Mongolian cavalry to get close.

It is the combination of these two that has brought about the Ming Dynasty we have today.

Zhu Ying took the bow and walked towards the command platform.

When he was about forty steps away, he stopped, casually pulled out a quiver from a soldier's quiver, drew the bow and string, and shot.

Guo Zhong, who was standing under the flagpole, was so frightened when he saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince shooting directly at him that he dared not move and could only close his eyes in fear.

However, as the sound of breaking through the air came, he did not feel any pain on his body, but instead it was the sound of a feather arrow shooting into wood.

Guo Zhong, who had just opened his eyes, had not yet reacted when he saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince forty steps away, quickly drawing the bow and stringing it, as if he had not even aimed.

The whooshing sounds continued.

Guo Zhong subconsciously turned his head to look at the flagpole, only to see feather arrows continuously falling in the middle.

They were so densely packed that almost all of them were shot at one place, and not a single arrow missed the target.

In just a dozen breaths, all the thirty arrows in the quiver were nailed to the flagpole.