In the leopard room and the dragon couch, Jiang Bin and the emperor played chess.
Jiang Bin did not choose to sit on his knees or sit cross-legged. Instead, he had one leg crossed, one leg upright on the couch, and his hands holding his knees. There was no formality or rules. Strictly speaking, it was for the emperor.
Very disrespectful.
However, Zhu Houzhao turned a blind eye to the whole process and thought that generals should be so unruly.
Just a few days ago, Zhou Qi, the Qianhu Guardsman who was on duty to guard the Leopard Room, scolded Jiang Bin for being too disrespectful to the emperor. Within a few days, Jiang Bin caught Zhou Qi's negligence in his work and even relied on snitching to let Zhu Houzhao
Put Zhou Qi to death!
This is what Jiang Bin said to Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty wants to train elite soldiers, so you must strictly enforce military orders. But the guards in the Leopard Room have neglected their duties, so how can you train ordinary soldiers into elite soldiers? Please kill this man!"
Zhu Houzhao was convinced that he had his personal bodyguard cut off.
From then on, no one among the eunuchs or guards around the emperor dared to compete with Jiang Bin for favor, and no one dared to say anything bad about Jiang Bin.
"Your Majesty asked me where the best soldiers in the world are," Jiang Bin said with a smile, holding the chess piece in his hand. "One is in Xuanfu, one is in Datong, one is in Yansui, and the other is in Liaodong."
Zhu Houzhao shook his head and smiled: "There is another one outside Xuanwu Gate, which was trained by Wang Erlang himself. After more than two months of training, he defeated more with less, and three thousand broke eight thousand. Moreover, he was ordered to guard the Cuju field under the orders and prohibitions. Two soldiers dared to
Kill the slaves of Marquis Jianchang."
Jiang Bin was obviously a man who knew the military, and retorted: "The soldiers trained by Academician Wang do strictly abide by military orders, but they have not experienced bloody battles, so they cannot be considered real elite soldiers. These soldiers can be used to suppress thieves, but if they encounter Mongolian cavalry
, a lot of problems will inevitably arise!”
Zhu Houzhao asked: "Three thousand to eight thousand is not a bloody battle?"
"It doesn't count," Jiang Bin said resolutely, "I have asked about the battle in detail. The victory of this battle was all due to Wang Erlang's bravery. Why did Wang Erlang take the lead and not even ride his own horse? It's because he knew that he
The soldiers under his command were only disciplined without a bloody battle. In a real battle, the whole army was likely to collapse. That's why he walked at the front and said that if he did not retreat, no one would be allowed to retreat. The rebels had even worse discipline and were intimidated by the reputation of Academician Wang.
Therefore, they were defeated from the front! Judging from the number of casualties on both sides, the battle was not a bloody battle, and the casualties of the officers and soldiers were negligible."
"That's it." Zhu Houzhao suddenly realized.
Jiang Bin said with emotion: "That's why I admire Academician Wang so much. He actually brought thousands of people with him, and relied on his own bravery and reputation to put himself to death and survive. He risked his life to destroy Qi Yanming. In this way.
His courage and bravery are no less than those of famous generals in ancient times!"
"Wang Erlang is truly an unparalleled tiger minister in the world!" Zhu Houzhao clapped his hands and praised him. He admired Wang Yuan more and valued Jiang Bin more.
Jiang Bin was able to quickly gain the emperor's appreciation. It was not just a matter of flattery. He did have something in his stomach. Putting aside his battlefield record, at least this guy was great on paper, and he did an excellent job in post-war review. At the same time, although he resented the king
However, he knew that the emperor had great trust in Wang Yuan, so instead of making slanderous remarks, he said all kinds of good things about Wang Yuan.
Anyway, everything was said according to the emperor's preferences, and the talk on paper made the emperor dizzy. Zhu Houzhao loved hearing these things!
Jiang Bin continued: "Therefore, the six thousand soldiers in the south of the city can only be said to be well-trained, but they cannot be said to be the best soldiers in the world."
Zhu Houzhao asked: "How can we train truly elite soldiers?"
Jiang Bin asked: "Your Majesty, does he know how Emperor Taizong trained his troops?"
"I know a little bit about it." Zhu Houzhao has only read about it in historical materials, but he really doesn't know the specific operation.
Jiang Bin said with a smile: "Emperor Taizong's secret to training soldiers is to let the soldiers fight tough battles. Those who survive the battle are elite soldiers. There is also rotation training. Every three to five years, local guards troops are summoned to Beijing for training. This year
Drill the Shandong troops and train the Henan troops next year. Once they are well trained, they will be taken out to fight!"
Zhu Houzhao was still a little nervous and sighed: "In Taizong's dynasty, there was sufficient money and food, so it was natural to train the sergeants of the local guards in rotation. But now that the food policy has been corrupted, the court does not have that much military pay at all to support this kind of rotational training that consumes countless salaries."
Jiang Bin took the opportunity to admonish: "Why not summon the border soldiers, transfer them to the capital, and have your Majesty send people to train them personally. These soldiers have seen blood, but their discipline is poor. If they can be trained to the point where they are prohibited from doing so, why worry about not being able to defeat them?"
A remnant of the Northern Yuan Dynasty?"
"This is a great plan!"
Zhu Houzhao thought carefully and nodded in approval, but then said: "If the elite soldiers from the border town are transferred back, what will happen if foreign thieves invade the border?"
Jiang Bin replied: "You only need to transfer some of them to Beijing. As many as you transfer away, let the border town retrain as much as you want."
"That being the case, it can be done." Zhu Houzhao was moved.
Jiang Bin smiled and said: "Recruiting soldiers from border towns to the capital actually has a greater purpose. Your Majesty only needs to provide sufficient food and salary, and send trusted people to camp. In two or three years, these elite soldiers will become the emperor's
Army! If your Majesty wants to go on a personal expedition one day, he will march out with these soldiers, and he will definitely be able to use his fingers like an arm on the battlefield!"
It was Zhu Houzhao's dream that the emperor would conquer it himself.
Zhu Houzhao immediately stopped playing chess and paced back and forth in the room, becoming more and more excited as he thought about it.
Jiang Bin struck while the iron was hot: "After training one group of soldiers, go to the border town to replace another group. A few years later, the generals and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty will all be His Majesty's personal soldiers!"
These words made Zhu Houzhao even more happy. He grabbed Jiang Bin's hand and said, "You are my daughter-in-law!"
The two immediately began to discuss the details of the operation. At this moment, a eunuch reported: "Your Majesty, Bachelor Wang wants to see you."
"Inform him to come in." Zhu Houzhao said with a smile.
Wang Yuan entered with the wax printing machine. As soon as he entered the room, Zhu Houzhao laughed and said: "Wang Erlang, come in quickly, I have good news for you."
Wang Yuan smiled and asked: "What's the good news?"
Zhu Houzhao repeated Jiang Bin's plan and said excitedly: "With such a good plan, after a few years of implementation, I will be able to personally lead an army to kill the little Mongolian prince without leaving any trace behind!"
Wang Yuan glanced at Jiang Bin and reminded: "Although the strategy is good, I am afraid that the Ministry of Household Affairs will not be able to sustain it."
Zhu Houzhao didn't care about this and said lightly: "The great Ming Dynasty can't even provide food and salary for tens of thousands of sergeants? If this is true, all the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs should be executed."
Wang Yuan was too lazy to give advice, so he beat gongs and drums, but he couldn't wake up the people who were pretending to be asleep.
Zhu Houming knew that the treasury was empty, and he knew the consequences of going to war, but he pretended not to know, which only caused suffering to the people all over the world.
Wang Yuan took the opportunity to suggest: "If your Majesty is short of money for training his troops, I can help your Majesty make money."
Zhu Houzhao was really interested: "How to make money? The Cuju League is indeed very profitable, and I also made a lot of money selling telescopes, but it is just a drop in the bucket for military training."
Wang Yuan put down the wax printing machine, bowed and said: "Open the sea!"
Zhu Houzhao suddenly had a headache: "Opening the sea is a big deal and a lot of troubles. Let's talk about it later. If I really can't get the money to train troops one day, it won't be too late to open the sea again."
Wang Yuan was a little disappointed, so he could only hold up the wax seal machine and said: "Your Majesty, I am here today to present a treasure."
"It's a thousand-mile mirror again, a thousand-mile mirror?" Zhu Houzhao asked.
Wang Yuan said with a smile: "With the wax printing machine, you only need to use a stylus to carve on the wax plate, and you can print easily. One wax plate can print eighty sheets of paper. If the paper material can be improved, it can print a hundred sheets."
can do it."
Zhu Houzhao's mind was now full of imperial conquests, and he had no expectations for this kind of cultural invention. He was slightly disappointed, and after letting Wang Yuan demonstrate it on the spot, he took the printing paper and frowned and said: "This printing is too poor, and the ink falls off when you touch it.
It is difficult to enter the hall of elegance."
Wang Yuan explained: "It is of great use to poor scholars! Your Majesty, I live in a remote place in Guizhou, and it is impossible to try Wei Mo in one village. If this method can be used all over the world, it will be of infinite use to scholars in border provinces. That's it.
In a land with beautiful articles like Jiangxi, there are countless poor scholars who have no money to buy books and lack the channels to copy books. Although this method of printing is inferior, it can still be purchased and read by poor scholars."
"That makes sense." Zhu Houzhao said perfunctorily.
Wang Yuan said again: "If your majesty implements this method, it will win the hearts of scholars all over the world and make all the civil servants in the dynasty burst into tears of gratitude."
Zhu Houzhao's eyes lit up. If he wanted to transfer the border troops to Beijing, he would definitely be opposed by the civil servants. He just used this thing to appease the civil servants. No matter whether he could silence the civil servants or not, it was still an explanation for them, and he could barely calm down the officials.