On the morning of the fifth day of winter, it cleared up after the snow, but the weather was still cold and foggy. The shouts of killing outside Tai'an City went straight into the sky. Under the rising sun, the Ming army guards were training in full swing in the open space in front of the camp.

In fact, during the more than twenty days of siege of Tai'an City, as long as the weather was not particularly bad, Xu Jin would ask the generals of each guard to organize soldiers to drill in the morning and evening. After all, if you sweat more in peacetime, you will bleed less in war. What's more, if

Letting soldiers sit idle in the camp every day will inevitably weaken their fighting spirit over time, and may even lead to trouble.

Down a gentle slope two miles south of Tai'an City, dust was flying and hundreds of horses were galloping back and forth. The three commanders and deputy commanders of the cavalry, Wang Lin'er, Xie Erjian, and Qi Jingtong, were leading their 500 cavalry for slashing training, and

Xu Jin, surrounded by a group of royal guards, stood on the slope watching the training.

Although the cavalry army is small in number, it is a powerful weapon in the army, equivalent to modern armored forces. It can determine the outcome of the battle at critical moments. Therefore, Xu Jin attaches great importance to this cavalry army, not only in terms of resource supply but also in terms of resource supply.

He was stingy and arranged all the eleven former soldiers to join the cavalry and became the backbone of it.

This cavalry has a full complement of 500 people. Each soldier has fifty cavalry. The military position is still one hundred households. Wang Lin'er is mature and stable and serves as the commander of the entire cavalry army. The military position is still one thousand households. Xie Erjian is appointed as a cavalryman.

Deputy commander of the army, his military position is still deputy qianhu.

In addition, Qi Jingtong was demoted to the deputy commander of the cavalry army, and his military position was promoted from the original ninth-rank patrol inspector to deputy Qianhu (from the fifth rank), which was directly promoted several levels, because whether it was Qufu, Surabaya, Xintai, or Laiwu

Qi Jingtong has made great contributions in all the battles, and he can afford it. Of course, Qi Jingtong's Qianhu was only temporarily promoted by Xu Jin. To be truly implemented, it must be approved by the Ministry of War. Although the imperial envoy can act expeditiously, he does not have the right to directly promote or demote officers.

You still have to go through the procedures of the Ministry of War, but usually you will be approved in the end.

The content of the cavalry training today is to chop and kill. Thirty random wooden stakes were erected within a distance of 100 meters. When the cavalry passes at high speed, they must cut down more than twenty sticks to be considered qualified. Note that they must be cut down, otherwise at noon

There is no food to eat. If you fail the training in the afternoon, you will not have dinner. It is not pleasant to be hungry all day and night in the cold weather, so the young men of the cavalry are training desperately at this time.

"good!"

At this time, a young cavalryman in his early twenties galloped past on horseback and neatly cut in half twenty-five wooden stakes as thick as a bowl, which instantly attracted cheers and applause, and Xu Jin couldn't help but nod.

Lu Song, a member of the Jinyi Guards Qianhu, praised: "Well done. If our soldiers have such combat power, I am afraid they will not be much more generous than the Tatar cavalry."

Jin Baihu shook his head and said: "I'm afraid it's not as good as it is. I have been to the border area and witnessed with my own eyes the power of the Tatar cavalry when they charged. It was like the mountains collapsed and the ground cracked... Alas, I don't know how to describe it.

, Anyway, if our cavalry had a head-on confrontation with the Tatars in the wilderness, they would probably be slaughtered."

Jin Baihu looked reminiscing, with a hint of fear in his eyes, as if the past was still vivid in his mind.

"Jin Baihu, this is too exaggerated. If the Tatar cavalry were really so powerful, why were they beaten to pieces by Emperor Taizu and fled to the desert in the end!" A Jin Yiwei general retorted unconvinced.

Jin Baihu curled his lips and said: "You know nothing. At that time, Emperor Taizu had many elite soldiers and fierce generals. Our cavalry was indeed not much weaker than the Tatars. Coupled with the sharp firearms, we were able to win the battle. Really

If the cavalry fights head-on, we won't be able to take advantage.

Lieutenant Xie Qianhu’s riding skills are pretty good. He can stand on a galloping horse and shoot a bow. It’s hard to find anyone else in the Ming army, but there are definitely many Tatars who can do it.

, these guys can still shoot with a bow and arrow even when riding on a naked horse without a saddle, but if it were us, hey, let alone shooting with a bow, we would be very happy if we could not fall off."

As soon as he said this, the surrounding Jin Yiwei fell silent.

Xu Jin frowned. The Mongolians are nomadic people. Both men and women grew up on horses. They have been with horses since childhood, so they are good at riding. Mongolian children grow up to be excellent cavalrymen.

The cavalry of the Ming army were all trained after joining the army. In terms of horseback combat power, they were naturally far inferior to the Mongolian cavalry. No matter how hard they trained, their cavalry and shooting skills would still be difficult to reach the level of others.

Fortunately, the Ming army could make up for its shortcomings with advantages in equipment, such as firearms.

When Xu Jin read the history of the Ming Dynasty in his previous life, he learned that "southern Japanese pirates and northern Tatars" had always been two major problems that troubled the Ming Dynasty. Especially by the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the coastal Japanese pirates and the northern Tatars had become the two most serious problems of the Ming Dynasty.

During the Jiajing period, Anda Khan even besieged the city of Beijing with his troops, which almost brought down the Jiajing Emperor and the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty. Fortunately, Anda Khan did not have the ambition to overthrow the Ming Dynasty, nor did he have the appetite. He just wanted to force

The rulers of the Ming Dynasty only opened the border trade, so they looted and withdrew from the border.

Xu Jin naturally did not want to see such humiliating historical events happen again in the Ming Dynasty, neither in terms of national sentiments nor personal sentiments.

Therefore, Jin Baihu's words reminded Xu Jin that if he wanted to avoid "Anda Khan's troops besieging the capital", he must deal with the Tatars who were eyeing him in the north of the Ming Dynasty. To solve the Tatar problem, the Ming army had to have an overwhelming force.

military strength.

Xu Jin felt that it was obviously unrealistic to build a cavalry with better combat power than the Tatars, but it could make a fuss about weapons. If you have an army equipped with modern guns, the number of people does not need to be large, and it is estimated that five thousand people will be enough.

Sweeping across the entire border, of course, this is obviously a dream.

However, modern automatic rifles cannot be made, but flintlock guns that are more advanced than firecrackers can probably be made. As for the matchlock gun, although it is more advanced than firecrackers, it is also garbage that cannot be used in rainy days.

So we should make a flintlock gun.

Xu Jin decided to discuss making a flintlock gun with the young emperor Zhu Houcong after returning to Beijing. As for the drawings of the flintlock gun, Xu Jin had already drawn them in Jiangxi. If it were not illegal to make firearms privately, he would have done it himself.

I found a craftsman to build it.

After Xu Jin watched the cavalry training, he returned to the commander's tent. Today he summoned the main generals of each guard for a meeting to discuss the attack on Tai'an City tomorrow. It was not a serious attack, just a tentative attack. Now the city is under siege

It had been more than twenty days, and Xu Jin wanted to test the status of the defenders in the city, consume the defenders' supplies, and further damage the defenders' morale.

Xu Jin walked into the commander's tent calmly. A group of generals were already waiting in the tent. When they saw Xu Jin, they all saluted and said, "See you, your Majesty the Imperial Envoy."

Although Xu Jin was young and even had some hair on his lips that had not faded away, the generals present did not dare to look down on this young boy.

After winning several battles in a row, Xu Jin's prestige in the army grew and he was fully recognized by all the soldiers. Moreover, Xu Jin's iron-blooded methods of killing corrupt officials and prisoners of the White Lotus Sect made the generals respect and fear him.

Xu Jin nodded and said: "All officers and men are exempt from courtesy, okay? Commander Yuan hasn't arrived yet?"

Xu Jin glanced at the generals present and found that Jinan Guard Commander Yuan Yi was not there, and he immediately frowned.

Fang Shizhen, the commander of the Jinan Guard, quickly and cautiously said: "Back to the Imperial Envoy, Commander Yuan's father is seriously ill, so he rushed home to visit him all night last night, and specifically asked his subordinates to take a leave of absence from the Imperial Envoy!"

Xu Jin's face darkened. He had a very bad impression of Yuan Yi, the commander of the Jinan Guard. This guy looked like a cunning person who was accustomed to subverting the law. Before the battle of Xintai, he ordered him to lead the Jinan Guard to Tai'an City to contain Wangtang.

, as a result, this guy stopped when he reached Liubu Town. He did not continue to lead his troops southward until he won the battle.

"The country governs the world with filial piety, and Commander Yuan is a model of filial son. However, it has been difficult to have both loyalty and filial piety since ancient times. He is leading the army outside and the enemy is in the current situation. As the highest officer of the First Guard, how can he leave his post without permission!" Xu Jin Leng

Leng Di said: "Inform Yuan Yi and ask him to stay in Jinan to take care of his old father and not to return to the army. Fang Tongzhi knows that the Jinan Guard will be temporarily under your command."

Fang Shizhen's heart skipped a beat, and she said with sincerity and fear: "I accept my order."

The other generals present were silent. Although Xu Jin did not directly say how to deal with Yuan Yi, he probably didn't get any good results. Moreover, it was only a matter of time before the city of Tai'an was destroyed. This was originally an easy achievement, but now it is definitely not possible.

It's Yuan Yi's fault. Yuan Yi didn't know that he had the wrong tendon, so he ran home at this juncture, and he didn't ask the imperial envoy for leave beforehand. He clearly didn't take the imperial envoy seriously. If he had a different temper,

Yes, it would not be an exaggeration to immediately order someone to capture him and hold him accountable.

Xu Jin soon regained his composure and called on the generals to continue the meeting. After the meeting, he called Jin Baihu to him and ordered: "Jin Baihu, send a few brothers to Jinan to investigate Yuan Yi.

Whether my father is seriously ill, we will report back immediately after investigation."

Jin Baihu accepted the promise and left happily. Jin Yiwei was the best at investigating the secret affairs of officials.

Xu Jin picked up the tea cup and took a sip. He was not an unreasonable person. If Yuan Yi's old father was indeed seriously ill, he would naturally not intend to pursue it. If it was just an excuse, then I'm sorry, Yuan Yi, the hereditary commander, would be considered the end of the line.

Well, with Xu Jin's current status, it would be easy to destroy Yuan Yi's official position with just one impeachment memorial.
Chapter completed!