Liu Jin enjoyed a delicious meal of mutton hot pot, then mounted his horse and galloped on the grassland, heading towards a military camp on the grassland.
Coming to the grassland and enjoying the mutton is just incidental, doing business is the most important thing.
After the New Year, the imperial court will send troops to the Western Regions. The Western Regions are extremely vast, and the absolute main force in the war is cavalry. Only with a strong cavalry can we use troops to conquer the Western Regions.
For this reason, Emperor Hongzhi had already started preparing for all this two years ago at the suggestion of Liu Jin.
Since the grasslands were included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and since the Ming Dynasty implemented the compulsory military service system, the Ming Dynasty began to build a powerful cavalry on the grasslands.
With enough war horses, strong national strength, and a place to train cavalry, Emperor Hongzhi built up an elite cavalry force of 50,000 people on the grassland in more than two years.
On the vast grassland, there is white snow and the cold wind howls.
A huge military camp stood on the ground, and the roars of horses echoed through the sky. The sound of thousands of troops galloping on the grassland could be faintly heard, and the ground trembled slightly.
The tents were arranged neatly, and the snow on the corridors was swept clean. In the center of the military camp, the bright yellow Ming Dynasty dragon flag fluttered in the cold wind.
"Stop, this is the grassland camp!"
Liu Jin took Battle, Huhe and others on horseback to the entrance of the camp. At the entrance, the soldiers on guard were wearing thick woolen coats and thick felt hats, carrying muskets and rifles on their backs.
He had a bow and arrow, a saber on his waist, and long snow boots on his feet. This equipment alone cost a lot of money.
"I am Liu Jin, the Minister of Household Affairs, and I came here to inspect on the order of the Emperor!"
Liu Jin took out the documents given by Emperor Hongzhi to Hu Fu and the Fifth Army Commander's Office.
When the other party heard this, he took Liu Jin's tiger talisman and documents, looked at them, and immediately said: "Please wait a moment, I will report immediately."
Liu Jin didn't wait too long. Poluhou Yang Yun hurried over with his people. Before the people arrived, he shouted happily: "Haha, why are there magpies chirping today? It turns out it's Liu Gong, you're here."
Already."
"...Where did the magpies come from in this winter?"
Liu Jin looked at Yang Yun, smiled and said.
They are all old acquaintances. Nowadays, there are very few generals in the imperial court who are good at fighting. Yang Yun is considered one of them. In the past few years, he has been conquering the north and south together with Liu Jin. He has participated in many wars against Japan, Jurchens, and Nanyang.
Great war.
After he returned to Beijing from Nanyang, Emperor Hongzhi immediately sent him to the northern grasslands to take over the 50,000 cavalry. The purpose was very simple, that is, to prepare for the use of troops in the Western Regions next year.
"Haha, Mr. Liu, where did your sense of humor go?"
Yang Yun immediately smiled even more happily. The door of the military camp opened wide and welcomed Liu Jin in.
"You came just in time. I am preparing to kill the sheep and eat the mutton."
While leading Liu Jin inside, Yang Yun also said with a smile.
"I'm tired of eating mutton. I came here this time mainly to see how the cavalry are being trained and whether they can be put to great use."
Liu Jin smiled and said.
"Then let's go and take you to see my Ming Dynasty's cavalry."
When Yang Yun heard this, he immediately smiled and said very confidently.
In fact, when Emperor Hongzhi sent Liu Jin to inspect, he had expected it, because he could already clearly feel that the imperial court was preparing to use troops in the Western Regions.
The newspapers that have been delivered recently have been discussing whether to use troops in the Western Regions.
Cotton and wool prices skyrocketed, and the textile industry fell into a boundless panic.
Both the government and the public are advising Emperor Hongzhi, hoping that Emperor Hongzhi will attack the Western Regions now and capture the Western Regions as soon as possible, so that the wool and cotton of the Western Regions can be obtained faster.
He followed Yang Yun to the training ground on horseback. As a loud howl sounded, the cavalry on the training ground quickly gathered.
In a short period of time, people and horses were neatly lined up on the vast training ground, and the cavalry were neatly lined up on their horses. In the deep winter, the white air breathed by the horses and people came out in bursts.
Tens of thousands of horses and horses gathered together, causing the temperature in this place to rise rapidly, and the snow was trampled away.
Liu Jin rode his horse, walked slowly, and looked carefully.
Each of these cavalrymen was tall, strong, and high-spirited, and they were well-armed to the teeth.
He carried a musket and a bow and arrow on his back, held a snow-white saber in his hand, wore a cotton coat, plush leather gloves on his hands, and wore snow boots on his feet.
The war horse he rides on is also fat and strong, tall and strong. You can tell at a glance that it is the best war horse, and it is a cavalryman who spent a lot of money to build it.
"You really spent a lot of money~"
Liu Jin couldn't help but sigh, such a luxurious cavalry was unthinkable in the past. That is to say, now that Emperor Hongzhi is rich, he has money to do things easily. The cavalry he has formed is really armed to the teeth. Updated
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From the horses the cavalry rides, to the clothes they wear to keep out the cold, to their weapons and equipment, to their daily meals, they are all made with real money and silver.
Just for these 50,000 cavalry, Emperor Hongzhi invested several million taels of silver every year, which was much larger than the previous Ming Dynasty's annual military expenditure.
This is why Emperor Hongzhi only raised 50,000 cavalry. Because he could not afford to raise too many, he could only raise 50,000 first, and then decide whether to continue expansion after seeing the combat situation of these 50,000 cavalry.
"Polu, you can start training!"
Liu Jin observed carefully, nodded slightly, and said to Yang Yun.
"Yes~"
Yang Yun nodded solemnly, then nodded slightly to the men beside him, who immediately began to give orders: "Training begins!"
Soon, the cavalry at the front began to move slowly, and soon the speed became faster and faster. When the speed increased, he gave an order.
I saw these cavalrymen taking off their bows from their backs almost uniformly, then bending their bows and shooting arrows. The arrows shot towards the target and quickly hit the target.
"Why is the hit rate so high?"
Liu Jin did not speak, but Battle and Huhe beside him could not help but slightly widen their eyes.
These cavalry are so good at horseback riding and archery. They are no worse than the prairie people, or even better. They are very skilled. Obviously, it cannot be done in one or two days of training, but after a lot of training.
Only long-term training day after day, year after year can achieve this.
Archery while standing is nothing, but archery on horseback is the real test of skill.
Row after row of cavalry are constantly activated, like rows of waves. After each row of waves, a burst of arrows fly past, and there are more and more arrows on the target.
After the horseback archery, there is the musket training. The cavalry also shoots on horseback, but they can only fire one shot because there is no way to load bullets on the horse.
However, muskets have a long range and are powerful. Even one shot is enough to cause terrible damage.
Then came the horseback killing. Teams of horses, in unison, raised their sabers under the command of the commander. As the horses became faster and faster, they rode on horseback to kill the dummies on the ground.
All the cavalry are very skillful in their movements, as if they have grown up on horses. Their riding skills are very strong. Bows, arrows, muskets, and slashing are all done in one go, very coherently.
Moreover, all the cavalry and horses can be neatly organized, quickly assembled, and quickly formed into combinations, and the cooperation between them is very tacit.
Tens of thousands of horses and horses can quickly form attack formations on the grassland with one order after another, or they can penetrate with long swords, form a crescent-shaped encirclement, or form wave after wave of bow and arrow attack waves.
"too strong!"
Battle and Huhe looked at each other with surprise in their eyes.
Prairie people have always been the ancestors of cavalry, and no one can beat them.
But now, both of them had to admit that the cavalry in front of them was really powerful and terrifying.
The various movements are extremely skillful, and the combat is very organized and disciplined. Whether it is from an individual technical level or from an overall team combat perspective, this cavalry is definitely the most powerful cavalry in history.
What's even more terrifying is that Ming Dynasty also equipped this cavalry with the most powerful weapons and equipment.
The musket in hand is the latest flintlock musket, which is loaded with bullets in advance and fired on horseback. The bow, arrow and saber in hand are all produced by Miyun Iron Factory, and are of extremely high quality.
Not only was he wearing a warm cotton coat, he was also wearing fine armor produced by the Miyun Iron Factory. It was light in weight but very powerful in defense.
The war horse he is riding on is the best war horse produced on the grassland. It is said that the imperial court also established a war horse breeding base on the grassland and introduced improved war horses from various parts of the world.
"With such a cavalry, no one in the world can defeat the Ming Dynasty."
Battle sighed. As the leader of the grassland tribe, he was very aware of the power of such a cavalry. This was a cavalry armed to the teeth and trained hard for many years. It was an extremely sharp sword, the sharp weapon in the hands of the Ming Dynasty.
The sword, once it is unsheathed, will definitely shock the enemies of Ming Dynasty.