A few days passed in a blink of an eye, and it was mid-July.
"It tastes really bad and I can't stand it."
During a previous check-up at the hospital, the old doctor said that Zhou Changfeng had some yin deficiency, so he prescribed medicine for him to drink on a regular basis, and the latter complied.
It's just that the decoction mixed with dendrobium, asparagus, mulberry and other medicinal materials is really not delicious, and Zhou Changfeng still can't get used to it after a few days.
He grimaced and took another sip of Liangbaikai, which diluted the strange taste of Chinese medicine in his mouth.
At this time, there were footsteps outside the door, and then someone reported: "Batalion Commander, I have your letter."
After walking over and opening the door, Zhou Changfeng found that he had received two letters at once?
Today's envelopes are different from the horizontal version that was more common in later generations, but vertical version. There are three vertical red boxes on the left, middle and right, respectively writing the recipient, receiving address, and sending address.
Both letters have been opened, and a bright red square seal has been stamped on the front, indicating that the verification is correct-this wartime letter verification regulation will not be suspended until the commander of the third mixed brigade.
He looked at it as he walked. The one with an ordinary tawny envelope was sent from Wuhan Prefecture, while the other one looked much more delicate, with white kraft paper and was sent from Yingtian Prefecture, the local government.
Zhou Changfeng opened the envelope and found that it was from his sister. The general idea was that she learned about the war situation through the radio and newspapers. She heard that his unit was heading to the front line, so she wrote a letter and asked him to reply as soon as possible.
In Zhou Changfeng's impression, his married sister was a quite independent woman. His father was killed in battle when he was young, and his mother had to work. It can be said that Zhou Changfeng was brought up by his sister since he was a child, and when he applied for the Nanjing Martial Arts School, It was only with her help that I persuaded my mother.
As for the other letter, he opened it and unfolded the letterhead. He first glanced at the signature. The three words "Xia Xiaoshi" stood out.
Let’s start from the beginning, “Mr. Zhou Changfeng Huijian...”
While reading the letter, Zhou Changfeng sighed: "This small regular script is so beautiful."
It has to be said that good calligraphy that is pleasing to the eye can indeed greatly enhance the impression.
To put it simply, the main idea of the letter was to ask him if he still wanted the pistol. If so, she would return it in two days. In addition, he also chatted a few other words.
What else are you asking for? I gave you everything, just keep it.
To be honest, Zhou Changfeng hasn't made any plans for Xia Xiaoshi yet. He thought it would be better to communicate for a while before making plans, so he wrote a reply casually.
After writing the replies to both letters, he opened the drawer and tore off two stamps from a bunch of stamps. After pasting them, he had them delivered to the left-behind unit at the Hunsan Brigade Post Office.
Now the war is not over yet, and his unit is also on its way back. It will need to replenish and rest after that. It will be almost a holiday for at least the next month.
Zhou Changfeng felt a little bored with nothing to do these days, so he wondered if he should find something to do for himself.
The first is to summarize the experience and lessons of this battle, as well as the problems of omissions on our side. This is an indispensable link. It does not mean that we can be arrogant after winning the battle.
But there is no need to rush this matter. We will wait until the troops come back and settle down.
Before that, let's do something easy.
He took out a piece of snow-white rice paper from the pile in the cabinet, then picked up a pencil and ruler, and started drawing while thinking.
In the history of war, there are always some small inventions that have played a big role and even affected the shape of war.
For example, the large-scale application of bayonets completely eliminated pikemen, allowing musketeers to become independent entities, and also perfected the tactic of queuing to kill.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, due to the critical situation and lack of time, Emperor Gaozu of the Later Ming Dynasty had no time to organize the production of flintlock muskets with a low yield rate and more time-consuming work. The infantry under his command actually relied on long guns, bows and arrows, and heavy matchlock guns. Conquer the world.
However, in the middle and later stages, the gradually mass-produced fusiliers replaced the matchlocks of some elite troops. Since there was no need to worry about igniting the gunpowder on their companions, the fusilier infantry lines could be denser and the firepower theoretically stronger.
However, the actual situation is not ideal. Since the flintlock gun has a natural misfire rate of up to one tenth, the generals are not interested in it. They feel that this expensive and unreliable thing is useless.
At the same time, because the manufacturing and processing of sleeve-type bayonets was very time-consuming and laborious, the output was always insufficient. Therefore, until the army of the Later Ming Dynasty regained Yanjing, there were only a few elite troops equipped with flintlock muskets and bayonets.
If the same number of fusiliary infantry troops wanted to surpass the matchlock infantry troops in terms of combat efficiency, the bayonet was an indispensable key. For example, for the same number of 1,000 men, the matchlock unit is composed of half musketeers and half pikemen, while the fusilier unit can be made up of all musketeers if it is equipped with bayonets.
But if it is not possible to equip all personnel with bayonets, then the cost-effectiveness of the flintlock unit cannot be compared to that of the matchlock unit.
The root cause of everything was that Emperor Shizu of the Later Ming Dynasty died too early. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in the winter of the second year after the Emperor of the Later Ming Dynasty pacified the world.
Without his deliberate promotion, the Ming army, which had no rivals in Asia, would naturally have no motivation to update its weapons and equipment. For example, the Ming army generals who conquered Wusuzang even complained clearly about the high misfire rate of flintlock guns in the Tang newspaper. High, from now on it will only be equipped with a matchlock gun.
The ones who could barely be called opponents were the Tsarist Russian Cossacks who invaded Nurgandusi. However, after the post road was rebuilt, the simple bastion the invaders relied on was blown into the sky by the Ming army using tens of thousands of kilograms of gunpowder, and was subsequently destroyed. The superior force of five to one was overwhelmed.
For a long period of time since then, due to the lack of a strong military threat, the weapons and equipment of the Ming Army's Army Division have been standing still.
It is worth mentioning that the Navy felt that Galen ships were very useful, so in addition to a large number of light warships, the Fujian and Guangdong Navy had been maintaining a small-scale heavy fleet with the purpose of suppressing the powerful and arrogant ships in the Nanyang region. pirate.
This heavy fleet generally consists of four 74-gun Galen ships, six or seven 48-gun Galen ships, and a dozen 24-gun Chinese-style big bird ships.
What is special is that the Galen ships of the Fujian and Guangdong Navy use European-style triangular soft sails for the bowsprit and stern mast, and several mainmasts are Chinese-style hard sails. This is the biggest feature.
Generally speaking, this fleet will go to the South Seas to patrol and suppress bandits in autumn and winter, and finally go to the old port of Xuanwei Division. At this time, due to ocean currents and monsoons, many merchant ships will go to sea, so a large number of pirates will also arise.
It gradually became a routine to go out to sea to suppress bandits, just like the Ming Dynasty frontier army would organize troops to go out to the fortress and set fire to the wasteland every year.
After Jiugang Xuanwei Division fell again, the Fujian and Guangdong Navy's small-scale heavy fleet's sea-going range was limited to the Nansha Islands.
The situation at that time was that the Dutch, British, and Portuguese all wanted to drive the Ming forces out of Nanyang. However, due to the trade surplus, they were afraid that the Ming Dynasty would impose a trade ban on them, so they carefully planned a coalition. Action, instigating local indigenous rebellion, and sending troops to participate in the war in disguise, disguising the fall of the Old Port Xuanwei Division as an indigenous uprising.
Later, when the eunuch sent by the emperor came to hold him accountable, the Dutch bribed him to return to Beijing and report that recovering the old port was a waste of money.
Since there was almost no trade deficit in the Ming Dynasty, the civil and military officials actually had little interest in the Nanyang region, and they had little motivation - China is vast and rich in resources, and foreigners want to come to buy things, so why should we risk going to sea ourselves? Isn’t it nice to sit at home and collect money?
So the plan to regain the old port came to nothing.
The heavy fleet did not die out because of this. It existed for a total of 170 years and maintained its combat power until it was encircled and annihilated by the British army in the first war.
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[After reading the comments, everyone’s suggestion makes sense. Shizu is more suitable than Gaozu. If the latter is used, Later Ming will be more like an independent dynasty. Later Ming Gaozu → Later Ming Shizu. I have taken the time to read all the previous articles in the past two days. Change it. 】
[Thanks to the support, I was recommended by the small speaker. I need an attractive recommendation. Do you have any good ideas? 】
