Because each regiment and each battalion purchased their own armor, the armor of the new army that overcomes difficulties and is now displayed in front of Emperor Chongzhen and Zhu Cixiang is not very neat.
This matter was also neglected by the Generalissimo's Office. The Marshal's Office allowed the subordinates to purchase on their own, but forgot to stipulate that each regiment or battalion should be unified!
Therefore, the Marshal's Office only checks whether the armor is strong, not whether the shape is uniform. Therefore, many phalanxes have "stuck" armors. In one phalanx, there are people wearing shiny spliced half-plate armor, and some wearing red cloth-covered iron armor.
Although the team is very neat, the armor cannot be unified, which always gives people a feeling of not being elite.
At least Emperor Chongzhen felt this way...
In addition to the "flowery" armor, the weapons used by the soldiers of the New Army also worried Emperor Chongzhen.
Some teams were equipped with half guns and half spears. And some teams don't have a single firearm...can't they even out?
"Father, in the future, all infantry regiments will be adapted and equipped according to the methods of each model regiment. By then, they will all be half-fire blunderbuss and half-pike... But it is not necessary now. Fire blunderbuss must still be used intensively. of."
While accompanying Emperor Chongzhen on horseback during the military parade, Zhu Cixiang explained the issue of equipment to him with a smile, "In the future, the armor will also have to be unified into half-plate armor. It cannot be spliced, it must be one piece."
The protective effect of spliced plate armor is not as good as that of a whole piece of plate armor. The gaps between the spliced plates are easily punctured by arrow clusters, and they are also easily damaged by blunt objects during hand-to-hand combat. Therefore, after the military and iron smelting industry in the southeast develops, all armor should be replaced with full plate armor.
"Brother Chun, it will cost a lot of money, right?" Emperor Chongzhen said coldly, "I heard that there have been troubles in many places because of the collection of commercial taxes! In addition, the small farmers in the southeast are not stable either. Don’t make a big fuss again..."
Resistance to taxes is expected, there are always blind people in this world! But there is no need for Zhu Cixiang to take action at the moment. There are still so many scumbag officials below!
Zhu Cixi has now abolished the rule that locals cannot serve as local officials (of course, this does not mean that officials must serve locally), and has also implemented the "secretary official system" and the "government official system", expanded the bureaucracy, and also absorbed In addition, they also directly controlled a large number of people and land through local military camps.
This greatly strengthened local control capabilities, and ordinary gentry and businessmen could not cause any trouble at all.
But the uneasiness of the "small farmers" in the southeast is a problem. In fact, it is not the "small farmers" who are uneasy, but the slaves!
Because Zhu Cixiang adopted the policy of suppressing the gentry in the southeast, the power of the gentry declined and they began to lose control of their subordinates.
The Ming Dynasty, thanks to the Yuan Dynasty, recognized the slave system from the founding of the country. By the end of the Ming Dynasty (it’s not necessarily the end of the Ming Dynasty now), due to various reasons, an increasing number of bankrupt farmers and handicraftsmen in the Jiangnan area were forced to sell themselves into slavery in order to survive. At the same time, due to the increase in wages and various assessments during Chongzhen's reign, many poor households turned into slaves in order to avoid taxes.
Therefore, during the Chongzhen period, the number of slaves owned by wealthy merchants and gentry in Jiangnan also increased.
And now, with the reduction of the power and wealth of the gentry who oppressed their slaves, large-scale slavery is inevitable... It is not easy to deal with this matter.
Because Zhu Cixiang knew that slaves needed not only freedom in life, but also the means of production to sustain their survival.
Zhu Cixiang can be a "shackle-breaker", but he cannot distribute the property of slave owners to slaves, so he has not rashly announced the abolition of slavery now.
Zhu Cixiang smiled: "Don't worry, father, it won't cause much trouble...and once the iron industry in Shanghai and Nanjing develops, a suit of plate armor will cost only a few dollars, at most four or five taels of silver. With one million taels, you can build two hundred thousand armored soldiers!
By then we will be able to make the northern expedition to the Central Plains and recover the ancestral tombs! Father, you can go to Tianshou Mountain to apologize to your ancestors one by one! "
I still have to apologize... Chongzhen glared at his son and said in his heart: How can there be so many sins to apologize for? If you apologize too much, your subjects will misunderstand me as a foolish king!
"So, what about now?" Chongzhen asked, "The Tartars are about to attack... Your soldiers haven't been trained yet, what should you do?"
"The elite soldiers have already been formed!" Zhu Cixiang smiled, "Father, what you see is the elite soldiers... Not to mention those teams equipped with firecrackers, even the regiments armed with swords, spears, bows and arrows are enough to fight against the Tartars. Let’s fight!”
"Really?" Emperor Chongzhen was riding his horse past an infantry regiment that was not equipped with muskets.
"Emperor Taizu Gao is reincarnated...invincible!" The officers and soldiers knelt on one knee and shouted loudly.
This slogan... Emperor Chongzhen sighed. Zhu Cihong made a bad start and can't stop it! Today's officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty are becoming more and more evil!
The new army in overcoming difficulties shouted something like "Emperor Taizu Gao is reincarnated and will be invincible."
And Shi Kefa's Qufu regiment chanted "Blessed by Saint Kong, invulnerable"... What's all this?
"Father, if anyone thinks that these officers and soldiers are weak without firearms, you are totally wrong!" Zhu Cixiang saw Chongzhen frowning and thought he was worried that the team without fire guns would not be able to fight, so he explained with a smile, " They may not be able to defeat the model group with half-fired guns, but they will not suffer a loss if they encounter the Tatars who also lack fireguns."
Won't you suffer a loss? Chongzhen thought to himself, when you suffer a loss, just cry!
...
Amidst the cheers, Zhu Cixi accompanied the suspicious Emperor Chongzhen to hastily review the soldiers and horses of the Jiangbei camp before entering the camp fortress.
After settling in the palace in the fortress, Chongzhen finally couldn't help but asked Zhu Cixiang while waiting for lunch in the palace hall: "Brother Chun, it's still early today, why don't you leave?"
"Go?" Zhu Cixi asked with a smile, "Where do you want to go, father?"
Emperor Chongzhen looked solemn: "Aren't we going to defend the Fengyang Emperor's Mausoleum?"
Zhu Cixiang smiled: "The Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum has already been protected by General Zhu Rong, so it is absolutely safe. Father, don't worry."
In fact, there would be no need for Zhu Chunchen to send troops, and nothing would go wrong in the Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum - Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, and Zhang Xianzhong had already digged it there. If the Ming Dynasty really had dragon veins, they were cut off. Why would Hauge dig there again? ?
Even if there is something else that can be dug, Zhu Cixiang is not going to stop it! Dragon veins and other things are all superstitious, but Zhu Cixiang would not believe it.
Chongzhen frowned and asked, "Then where should we send troops next?"
"I'm not going anywhere," Zhu Cixiang smiled, "Just wait here!"
"Wait?" Chongzhen was stunned again and again, "Then why don't we wait in Nanjing City? We haven't left Yingtianfu Realm here yet, right?"
"It's not out of Yingtian Mansion," Zhu Cixi said with a smile, "This place belongs to Jiangpu County, which is less than ten miles away from Longjiang Pass in Nanjing and only five miles away from the Yangtze River.
But after leaving the city, the emperor will march in person! And they also crossed the Yangtze River... This shows that the father and his sons are not willing to settle on the left side of the Yangtze River, but want to expedition north to the Central Plains to restore the mountains and rivers. At least a little stronger than Zhao Gou and Sima Rui!
After all, we have already embarked on the Northern Expedition. Although we have only crossed the Yangtze River five miles away, it is still a Northern Expedition! "
What? Five miles of Northern Expedition? Emperor Chongzhen thought to himself: How shameless are you, a rebellious son? Crossing the Yangtze River counts as the Northern Expedition? And how can you compare me with such foolish kings as Zhao Gou and Sima Rui? I am much stronger than them!
Zhu Cixiang looked at Chongzhen. He didn't think that this gentleman could compare with Zhao Gou and Sima Rui. The one who was better than them was mainly the prince.
But you can't say this to Chongzhen, it's too hurtful. Zhu Cixiang quickly changed the subject and said: "In addition, this is only 300 miles away from Fengyang Fucheng. How the war in Huaibei has changed will be known to Jiangbei Camp in five hours at the earliest. If we are in Nanjing City, we have to cross Tangma to the south. If you go to the river, it will take an extra two hours."
