Chapter 170 Dare not to obey orders (seeking monthly ticket)
Even though Li Xuan didn't think much of traditional bandit leaders or warriors like Leader Li or even Fang Dongquan, it didn't mean that he didn't want to get a real general to share his pressure on military affairs.
Nowadays, in the Tang Dynasty, there are many generals, various generals, generals, and thousands of households. Li Xuan himself cannot remember how many of these official systems have been issued in name only.
However, among the large number of generals in the Tang Dynasty, there was actually no truly qualified general.
Fang Dongquan, Huang Xueren and even Wang Shanxu, although they have served as captains in the New Army and commanded the Tang Dynasty Royal Division in many battles, they are still essentially bandit leaders. To be blunt, in terms of military literacy, they are even
Not as good as the dozen or so junior officers that Li Xuan is training.
At least those young men who came from the Guards and are currently serving as deputy captains, corps commanders, etc. have already gone through a full year of training, and have been personally taught by Li Xuan in the past month.
When Li Xuan taught them, in addition to teaching them some basic astronomy, geography and mathematics knowledge, he also taught them some limited military knowledge he knew in a common sense.
Although the military knowledge Li Xuan himself knew was messy, it was still much better than the bandit fighting method that Fang Dongquan and others used to rush forward in a swarm.
However, these half-grown officers are still too young, and the military knowledge they have learned is also messy. Without a long period of experience and experience in combat, it is unlikely that these people will directly serve as senior officers.
He couldn't find any qualified generals here, so it was not surprising that Li Xuan turned to Zeng Ziwen. Even though Zeng Ziwen was a native, he had systematically studied many ancient military books, and he was from a family of generals.
Born in China, he has never eaten pork and has seen pigs running away.
Considering that the Ming army in this era was an army that combined cold weapons and hot weapons, Li Xuan felt that it would be easier to train his new army if Zeng Ziwen helped.
Moreover, Zeng Ziwen was originally a senior general of the Ming Army and was very familiar with the Ming Army's combat habits. With his help, the new army of the Tang Dynasty could better understand their enemy: the Ming Army.
It's just that although Zeng Ziwen never resisted after being captured, he never gave in. Li Xuan tried to persuade him several times in the past six months, but to no avail.
Considering that the last time he personally persuaded him was before the Ming army entered the mountain, and it was two months ago, Li Xuan was wondering if this person would change his mind.
If he changes his mind, that would be a good thing. If he still doesn't change his mind, then Li Xuan has nothing to lose and will continue to be locked up.
Anyway, this man can't be released. Killing him would be a waste, so just lock him up and he won't be short of food.
When Zeng Ziwen heard the guard say that Li Xuan was going to summon him, his bearded face changed expressions several times in a short period of time.
The guard frowned when he saw that his face was full of beard and his clothes were in tatters!
It didn't take long for someone to come in with a basin, not only the basin and other toiletries, but also a brand new set of clothes. The guard didn't say much after putting down these things, he just asked him to freshen up and then went out.
Zeng Ziwen watched the guards coming in and out, but still did not speak. Instead, he silently shaved his beard with a knife, and then after washing himself, he put on the new clothes sent by the guard.
When he reappeared in front of the guard, the guard glanced at him, and then showed a satisfied expression: "This is ridiculous, otherwise, your Majesty will think that we are abusing you when you are in front of him!"
Zeng Ziwen still didn't speak, but silently followed the guard towards the wooden house 'Imperial Palace'.
But although he didn't speak, his mind stopped spinning. As soon as he heard that Li Xuan wanted to see him, he guessed that Li Xuan might be thinking of him again and wanted to recruit him.
Then the guards brought him new clothes and asked him to freshen up, which further confirmed his suspicion.
I thought that when Li Xuan persuaded him and wanted to recruit him to join the Tang Dynasty several times before, it was always like this.
The last time I saw Li Xuan was two months ago, but too many things happened in these two months, and these things have made Zeng Ziwen's original persistence somewhat loose.
The reason why Zeng Ziwen refused Li Xuan's solicitation was because he believed that the so-called Tang Dynasty was bound to fail, and the officers and soldiers of the imperial court would easily defeat these pseudo-Tang rebels.
But the last time he was taken to Longhua Town, he saw something that he thought was impossible, something that was enough to make him change his original intention.
These things are not because the Imperial Army of the Tang Dynasty did not fight, or that Longhua Town was completely robbed. It is not because the Imperial Army of the Tang Dynasty snatched back thousands of people when they returned to the army, and it is not because the Ming army completely fell because of Longhua Town.
Take the initiative to exit the mountain due to danger.
But the performance of the Guards!
Strictly speaking, it was not the entire Guards, but the performance of the more than twenty musketeers in the Guards that shocked Zeng Ziwen.
When Zeng Ziwen was still a prisoner, but had to stay with Li Xuan to follow the army, he saw with his own eyes the musketeer team with only more than 20 people, shooting with muskets, and cooperating with bayonet charges.
The spearmen defeated hundreds of officers and soldiers.
When he saw these musketeers in actual combat, what he saw was not more than 20 musketeers, nor was it a mere hundred Ming troops defeated, and most of them were young and strong.
What he saw were hundreds or even thousands of these musketeers. These musketeers lined up in a tight formation on the battlefield, then stepped forward with their muskets in hand, and fired in turns from a distance of about eighty paces.
, and it was a continuous shooting.
A 14mm musket fired at this distance would be enough to cause a certain amount of damage even if the opponent was wearing light armor.
As for bows and arrows, their lethality is much less at this distance!
However, at this distance, whether it is a musket or a bow, the hit rate of a single shot is basically zero, so the coverage shooting mode will be adopted instead of precise shooting.
However, if the distance reaches eighty meters, the power of the musket will be greatly increased. The 14mm medium-caliber musket equipped by the New Army of the Tang Dynasty can easily punch a hole in the iron armor.
If the distance is fifty meters, even if the opponent is wearing double thick armor, it will basically be a hole punched in. There is absolutely no way to escape.
If it were just about power, the effective shooting range would be longer, but compared to bows and arrows, muskets suffer too much in terms of firing speed. If the archers are allowed to rush to a distance of 70 or 80 meters to shoot at each other, the musketeers will be 100% defeated.
Even if an archer uses a large angle to project arrows, especially a projectile bow like the British longbow, a musketeer will suffer a loss when shooting from a hundred meters away!
In other words, in terms of rate of fire and range, guns actually have no real advantages.
But the muskets are very powerful, and this alone is enough to make up for the shortcomings in the rate of fire. What's more, the effective range of the muskets is farther than the ordinary bows and arrows used in large quantities by the Ming army.
However, Zeng Ziwen still didn't take the power of the muskets seriously. The large-mouthed muskets in the Ming army were also powerful enough. If you hit them with one shot, not to mention that ordinary armor couldn't stop them, they could smash your whole body.
But I haven't seen these muskets completely replace bows and arrows.
Therefore, Zeng Ziwen didn't take it seriously that the muskets were more powerful and even had a longer effective range. What really concerned him was that these musketeers had only been trained for more than half a year from beginning to end, and they were not those often trained by professional armies.
kind.
How many years does it take to train an archer? It takes ten or eight years at least. Most archers start practicing archery from a young age so that they can become a qualified archer after they reach adulthood.
However, these musketeers can be trained for a few months and can be used to fight, and their performance is not much worse than that of archers!
What does this mean? This means that if the Tang Dynasty had enough population, it would be able to raise an army of musketeers in a short time.
Because the training of musketeers is extremely simple, the production of muskets is not difficult if there are enough craftsmen, at least it is much easier than making bows and arrows.
When Li Xuan told him earlier that the Tang Dynasty could rely on these musketeers to rise, Zeng Ziwen still didn't believe it, but now, his persistence has loosened a little.
Maybe, there is really a slight possibility!
With these thoughts in mind, he arrived at the 'Imperial Palace' unknowingly. This time Li Xuan met him in the meeting hall, but this time Zeng Ziwen did not find anyone else present. Only Li Xuan and a few guards were there.
.
Why aren't Liu Bagou and the others there?
Zeng Ziwen was a little confused. When he met Li Xuan several times before, Liu Bagou and the others were always at the side.
But it's okay if they're not here, so no one forces Zeng Ziwen to kneel down to Li Xuan.
At this time, Li Xuan from above also spoke: "Mr. Zeng, how are you doing recently?"
After hearing Li Xuan's words, Zeng Ziwen did not kneel down, but he was not as arrogant as before and said some irritating words. Instead, he said lightly: "It's time to worry, I'm doing pretty well!"
When Zeng Ziwen spoke, he did not say what he called Li Xuan, because no name was suitable. Calling Li Xuan emperor or other similar respectful titles would not be able to pass the psychological test, but if he called him by his first name carelessly,
Or it was a derogatory term. It is estimated that the guards next to him would just draw their swords and chop him down.
So he simply didn’t call it anything!
And he claimed that he had changed from his former superior to his subordinate. This was not because he was being humble, but because a month ago, he learned that he had been ‘dead’.
At that time, the newly captured Ming army prisoners told him clearly that he had been gloriously 'killed in battle', and the government even sent people to his home to express condolences.
If everyone else is ‘dead’, it’s natural that he won’t be able to serve as an official.
Regarding the issue of address in Zeng Ziwen's words, Li Xuan did not delve into it, but continued: "I have been a little busy this month, but I haven't had a good chat with Mr. Zeng for some time!"
At this time, Zeng Ziwen looked up and saw Li Xuan walking down from the dragon chair!
And I heard him say as he came down: "Recently, our new army in Datang has been formed, and we just defeated a group of bandits a few days ago. I think Mr. Zeng must have heard about it too!"
Zeng Ziwen nodded and said, "I've heard a little bit about it!"
Li Xuandao: "I wonder if Mr. Zeng would be interested in accompanying me to see the training of the new army?"
After hearing this, Zeng Ziwen did not answer immediately, but pondered for a long time, and finally nodded and said: "Don't you dare disobey me!"