Chapter 1222 Postscript Seventy-eight The Princess Who Can Rid a Horse and Fire a Gun
Chapter 1222 Postscript 78·The princess who can ride a horse and fire a gun
On the outskirts of megacities, there are not many farmers growing staple foods.
Most of them are growing vegetables, fruits and flowers because their economic value is higher.
Military drills may trample the land, so nearby farmers have harvested their vegetables in advance and can receive a green crop compensation from the Ministry of War.
There are tents everywhere on the mountain and down the mountain, simulating camping in the wild during the war.
The first day of the military exercise was the emperor's lucky camp.
Xie Yan led or rode a horse, followed behind the little emperor, patrolled the camp with many guards and princes, and met and expressed condolences to the soldiers of each camp.
The little emperor's canopy, ceremonial fans and other objects were all left outside the military camp.
This is a tradition that has existed since the Taizong Dynasty, that is, when the emperor goes to the army, he must follow military etiquette and not play with vain things.
"See Your Majesty!"
Every time the little emperor arrived outside a military camp, the officers and soldiers in the camp gathered in advance and then saluted the emperor in unison.
The military salute is to hold a weapon in the left hand and make a fist with the right hand across the chest.
People of equal rank can salute each other on horses or chariots. If a subordinate faces a superior, he must dismount, dismount and salute again.
No kneeling is allowed.
This was also a military ritual established by Taizong. It was once destroyed and changed to kneeling before the emperor. It was not until Emperor Dingtai rectified the army that it was restored again.
The little emperor had military experience, and was extremely calm at a young age. He rode past the soldiers calmly and calmly.
He was riding an underage military horse, and there were guards to help hold it in case the horse suddenly went crazy.
Xie Yan is also observing the Forbidden Army.
When I read novels in the past, the Forbidden Army in the book was all showy. Whether it was the Song Dynasty or the Ming Dynasty, decades after the founding of the country, the Forbidden Army gradually declined.
But these forbidden troops in front of me seemed to be quite energetic.
This was of course the result of Emperor Dingtai's reorganization of the army. At that time, more than half of the Forbidden Army had been destroyed.
The main reason is that most of the Forbidden Army have never seen blood since they have not fought for many years. Even daily training cannot be guaranteed. They only train for one or two days a month. Moreover, some people are eating empty pay and drinking the blood of soldiers, resulting in very low morale of the army.
Emperor Dingtai sent a telegram to recall four thousand border troops, pay them full military pay, and increase their treatment to the same as that of the Forbidden Army. The four thousand border troops were instantly loyal.
The next year, Emperor Dingtai held another large-scale drill for the Imperial Guards in the two capitals. Four thousand fierce frontier troops directly shocked the 100,000 Imperial Guards.
Zhang Guangdao and other descendants of the founder of the country were helpless in the face of four thousand border troops, and they did not dare to raise troops to cause chaos.
"Long live! Long live!"
The soldiers of the Forbidden Army shouted in unison, and the little emperor's blood was already boiling: These are my troops, the elite soldiers left to me by the emperor!
The little emperor suddenly wanted to fight and wanted to find a country to try his hand at.
He had heard too many stories about Taizu, Taizong and Emperor Dingtai since he was a child. Children had little feeling for benevolent government and caring for the people, but they had deep memories of their ancestors' battles and defeats of enemies.
This year is an annual rotating exercise, and only 10,000 troops participated in the Luoyang military exercise.
Fortunately, the little emperor's camp was completed, and the 10,000 forbidden troops were divided into two armies, each of which continued to build fortifications.
Army A built simple and small fortifications, somewhat similar to bastions.
Army B dug a Z-shaped trench.
The next day, the battle officially started.
Xie Yan, together with the princes of different surnames, stood on the hillside and used binoculars to observe the offensive and defensive battles of the Forbidden Army.
There were constant gunshots and smoke everywhere.
The warhead of the paper-cased fixed-load ammunition was replaced by cork projectiles, and the amount of gunpowder was very small. To put it bluntly, it was a blank bullet.
He even used the weak thunderbolt and threw grenades randomly.
Xie Yan couldn't understand this either, he only knew that the fight was quite lively. Playing the role of the Ming army's attacker, he naturally won the final victory.
After the offensive and defensive battles were fought in the morning, there was formation battle in the afternoon.
There is also a firearm version of the Mandarin Duck Formation with Ming Dynasty characteristics. This is a reserved item, and Taizong’s illustrious martial arts cannot be forgotten.
Some cold weapon units have also been retained to deal with weather that is not conducive to firearms operations. There are not many cold weapon troops participating in the military exercise, only a few hundred versus a few hundred, but they are full of entertainment. This thing is fierce to fight.
.
On the third day, there was a cavalry battle, as well as individual martial arts competitions and demonstrations.
Riding and shooting, spearmanship, musketry, artillery... were performed in turn, and Xie Yan said it was wonderful.
There were more than twenty outstanding military academy students who were also selected to demonstrate military skills. Xie Yan saw Yang Boyan among those students.
"Who is that person?" the little emperor pointed at Yang Boyan and asked.
When the people on the left and right were waiting to ask, Xie Yan said: "Your Majesty, his name is Yang Boyan, and he is a descendant of Yang Zaixing, the founding county official."
The little emperor praised: "He is worthy of being a descendant of the founding general!"
There's no way, Yang Boyan's performance just now was too eye-catching.
Those who can be selected to participate in the drill are all the top students of the military academy, and Yang Boyan completely crushes the other more than 20 students in riding, shooting, horse fighting, and infantry fighting. Even if he is standing and setting off firecrackers, he can defeat those students.
Ranked in the top five.
Queen Mother Ye suddenly asked: "Does Liu Lang know this Yang Boyan?"
"When I took the train to Beijing, I had a few words with the descendants of this fierce general." Xie Yan roughly told what happened.
Queen Mother Ye nodded in approval: "These fierce generals, after graduating from the military academy, should be arranged to go to the border towns to practice. Although the barbarians in the forests around Beihai have already surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, they always go south to plunder sporadically. There are also the mountainous areas on the Qihe border.
The Geluolu people, the Huangtou Shiwei in the mountains and forests of northeast Anhui... are not very worry-free."
The vast Ming Dynasty naturally had more troubles than the Queen Mother Ye mentioned.
For example, the Qihe Protectorate's jurisdiction extends from the west of the Ili Valley to the north of the Aral Sea, stretching 1,400 kilometers from east to west. The core of Ming Dynasty's rule there relied entirely on more than 20 large and small cities, as well as military fortresses at key nodes.
The farther away from cities and fortresses, the weaker the Ming's ruling foundation. Like Mobei and Tubo, it belongs to tribal autonomy. However, those tribal leaders and religious leaders must be recognized by the Ming court and must pay regular bills to the Governor's Office.
tribute.
From time to time, there were tribal rebellions.
The difference is that the tribes in Qihe are dominated by desert religion, the tribes in Tubo are dominated by Buddhism, and the tribes in Mobei are dominated by Nestorianism and Shamanism.
The capital city of the Qihe Protectorate was the Hu Si O'er Er left by Yelu Dashi - more than a hundred miles east of the capital of Kyrgyzstan in later generations.
Now the entire basin, as well as the surrounding mountains and grasslands, have been renamed "Chuhe Mansion".
And Hu Siyu'er was renamed "Broken Leaf City"!
In the entire Chu River Basin, the proportion of the Han population has exceeded 60%. This includes Han mixed-race descendants, as well as the Khitan, Uighur, and Turkic people who have been assimilated into the Han people.
The further west you go, the smaller the proportion of Han people.
…
On the fifth day of the military exercise, it became more entertaining.
The soldiers were divided into large groups and small groups, and drove the prey around the mountains and forests according to military orders, making it easier for the powerful to hunt wild beasts.
Even the sassy eldest sister Wu Lingfeng came to join in the fun with her father and father-in-law.
Yuan Huaiyi, who joined the cabinet as a military general, personally taught the young emperor how to use a firecracker: "First bite open the cartridge case, shake a little gunpowder into the primer plate, and then insert the paper shell bullet into the barrel like this..."
The little emperor was very excited. This year he was one year older. He was allowed to swim in the summer and use fire guns in the autumn.
Xie Yan also followed suit.
Check out the correct version one by one!
The flintlock guns used by the two men are both works of art, inlaid with gold, silver and even precious stones. Such muskets made by skilled craftsmen are almost impossible to explode unless used too many times.
Of course, the paper-cased bullets that the little emperor received had less gunpowder and were not very powerful.
He learned to fire a few shots, and the more he fired, the happier he became.
A bugle suddenly sounded, and the deer were being driven here.
The generals and guards came forward to protect the little emperor.
Bang!
The little emperor shot empty-handed.
The two guards bent their bows and nocked arrows, and shot at a frightened deer at the same time. The poor elk was hit by two arrows but not its vitals. It tried to escape but was driven back by soldiers from further away.
"Your Majesty, aim at the injured one, it can't run fast anymore."
The little emperor actually didn't want others to help, but he also knew that he was a beginner and had to do this because his skills were not good.
Bang!
Another shot, the bullet flew two feet past the injured elk.
Still hit it crookedly.
The elk fled again and was soon driven back by the soldiers.
The guards and generals protected the little emperor and pretended to chase the prey. They ran very slowly for fear that the little emperor would fall from his horse.
Queen Mother Ye observed from a distance, with a slight smile on her face.
She enjoys watching her son continue to improve.
Bang!
The elk, which could not run due to excessive blood loss, was finally shot down by the little emperor.
The little emperor jumped off his horse, ran to the elk and shouted cheeringly: "I hit it, I hit a prey!"
"Your Majesty is mighty!"
The generals and guards congratulated him in unison.
The little emperor asked the guards to bring the prey, and he ran back on horseback: "Little uncle, I have hunted a deer. You are also new to learning firecrackers, go and try it."
"According to the order!" Xie Yan rode forward cautiously.
Although Xie Yan ran away, the emperor's words of "little uncle" were remembered by many civil and military officials.
Your Majesty is very close to Consort Xie!
Zhu Tangxi chased after him on horseback and got a flintlock gun from somewhere.
Xie Yan asked: "Sister, can you also fire a gun?"
"When did I say that I didn't know how to do it?" Zhu Tangxi said proudly, "My gun skills were taught by my father himself! But I haven't hunted much in the past few years, and I don't know if I can still aim and drive accurately!"
Xie Yan quickly chased with his horse. Although the hillside was gentle, his equestrian skills were too poor to dare to ride fast.
"Woooooo~~~"
The horn sounded again, and this time it was several wild boars that were driven over.
The wild boars began to scatter, but the sound of gongs in the distance drove them towards the direction planned by the army.
Wu Lingfeng and his wife followed them at some unknown time.
Although her husband was born into a general, he was more like a scholar than a scholar, and he was submissive in front of her. He looked henpecked at first glance.
"Princess, Prince Consort, you come first." Wu Lingfeng said.
The horse was heaving up and down, so Xie Yan had no choice but to dismount first. He also felt that the place where the wild boar stopped was too far away, so he bent down and crept closer.
"Bang!"
At this moment, a gunshot rang out.
Zhu Tangxi was in another place in Xili, riding on horseback and shooting, accurately hitting the wild boar's waist.
The wild boar was in pain and ran wildly, and several hunting dogs rushed to catch it.
Xie Yan turned around and praised: "Sister is so amazing!"
Zhu Tangxi held his head high, put his flintlock gun on his shoulder, and said with a proud smile: "In the past, I would have been able to hit the wild boar in the head."
Xie Yan only cares about appreciating beauties.
Today's princess sister is so beautiful. She is wearing a hunting outfit, and her long legs are particularly attractive. She also carries a musket on her shoulders, and her heroic appearance is another story.
Of course, Wu Lingfeng is even more awesome. He uses a bow and arrow directly, and he shoots arrows while riding a horse and galloping.
Xie Yan likes this sport. Whether he can catch prey is secondary. The key is to have a beautiful young lady who is pleasing to the eye.