"Emperor Gao, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, is reincarnated...invincible!"
When Zhu Cixiang's heroic figure riding a war horse appeared outside Longjiangguan Pier, the new officers and soldiers who had disembarked early and lined up in the wide streets of Nanjing's outer city suddenly burst out with the loudest cheers.
Their cheers sent the people who were squeezing along the long street to welcome the victorious soldiers back into a frenzy. Next to Longjiangguan Pier, all the warehouses, shops, and government offices were crowded with people. People were lying on the walls. In some places, people were even standing on the roofs. Everyone shouted loudly at this time, shouting the slogan "Emperor Taizu Gao is alive" at the top of their lungs, and some people were so excited that tears filled their eyes.
Of course, most of the people who greeted Zhu Cixiang were not natives who had lived in Jinling for a long time, but "Northerners" who came from the north or the Huaihe River. Some were the family members of the new officers and soldiers who had overcome the difficulties, and some were refugees who had lost their homes and were The officials sent by Zhu Cixiang were rescued and taken to Nanjing.
Almost all of these people ate Zhu's food and wore Zhu's clothes, and they also hoped that Zhu Cihong, the eldest prince of Fujun, could take them back to their hometown. Therefore, he became the strongest supporter of Zhu Cixiang's "Beijing regime" in Nanjing!
Zhu Cixiang, who was about to turn eighteen, was riding on a tall war horse. He was wearing plate armor hammered with water as a tribute from Zheng Zhilong, looking very heroic. However, compared with before the dispatch of troops this time, I feel more calm and have a more optimistic attitude. Li Yan, Wu Xiang, Hao Yaoqi, Wang Qi, Shi Ruian, Ferreira and other Chinese and Western generals also wore plate armor or lath armor and rode horses to surround Zhu Cixang. Each and every one of them has the posture of a winner, and their whole body is full of confidence that they will win.
Nowadays, no one is worried that Zhu Cixiang's regime will not last long. Even the most pessimistic prediction is that it will only be peaceful for a hundred or so years in the south of the Yangtze River - the Ming Dynasty has been in power for more than 270 years. If it can continue With a hundred and dozens of years, that is the 400-year foundation of the Ming Dynasty, which can compete with the Han Dynasty.
Here in the south of the Yangtze River, some scholar-officials have secretly called the current Ming Dynasty "Southern Ming" and compared the Southern Ming Dynasty with the Southern Song Dynasty...
Compared with the Southern Song Dynasty, the current Nanming Dynasty seems to be stronger, and it seems that it can maintain peace in Jiangnan for more than a hundred years.
Of course, there are also some people who have opened their eyes to see the world and already know that the biggest difference between the Southern Ming Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty is that the west wind spread from the east. These people were full of confidence in the prospects of the Southern Ming and Northern Expeditions. For example, Duke Zheng Zhilong of Quan State asked Chen Ding, who was escorting the Fan Diemen delegation, to send another batch of firearms and gunpowder to Zhu Cihong. The firearms among them are all turtle-dove-foot muskets made in Foshan and Anping. There are 1,000 of them. They are all good things!
In Zheng Zhilong's view, the Tatars, who were all solved with firearms and gunpowder, were no longer a threat... As long as the supply of silk and porcelain from the southeast continued, Western firearms and gunpowder could be purchased in any quantity. Even if it is self-made, it is not a problem.
As a drum beat with a very distinct rhythm sounded, the officers and soldiers of the Forward Division and the First Division of the New Army who had already finished lining up began to walk in neat steps along the spacious street towards Yifeng Gate. .
The 8,000 tiger warriors of the four infantry regiments were all put on brand new armor. Half of the pikemen (about 2,000 people) were put on slatted iron armor, and the armor surface was polished so brightly that it shone dazzlingly in the sun. A long spear about ten feet long was placed on the shoulder, and the tip of the spear was polished until it was shiny, reflecting a frightening light. Looking from a distance, it looked like a moving steel jungle. What is even more terrifying are the dried human heads hanging under the spear points of these spearmen! They are all Tartar heads with golden rat tails, and three are hung on each spear. There are a total of 6,000 ferocious heads, declaring the military might of the Prince Fujun of the Ming Dynasty.
Marching with the pikemen were musketeers wearing cloth-covered iron armor. One-third of them carried huge turtle-dove muskets, and the remaining two-thirds carried various light matchlocks with spears inserted into them. .
The heavy matchlock guns used by the new army in overcoming difficulties, that is, the turtle-dove-foot muskets, are roughly the same model. Although they are not standardized, they are not much different. Their light matchlock guns are a bit varied, and the most commonly used one is the Japanese three-gun. This is a very light fire gun. Only when it is double loaded with gunpowder can it ensure killing at a distance of 30 steps. Manchurian soldiers wearing heavy armor. The power is really unsatisfactory, and it can only be regarded as a makeshift weapon.
So after the situation stabilized a little, Zhu Cixiang decided to eliminate the three-barrel gun and chose the French light firegun, which was also transmitted from the West, as the standard light firegun - this kind of firegun is the Spanish light matchlock gun, which is said to be light. In fact, it is similar to the Japanese six-gun barrel. The bullet weighs seven or eight qian, and the charge is 5 qian. The initial kinetic energy of the muzzle is huge, enough to penetrate the Qing army's shield car at a distance of 50 steps.
In addition, the length of this kind of fire blunderbuss is close to five feet. After the sleeve is installed and the spear is installed, the length can reach seven feet, which is as high as a person. It can be used as a long gun.
However, the Spanish light matchlock gun was chosen as the standard light fire gun, and there is still a long way to go before the equipment replacement is completed!
After all, the military industrial clusters in Nanjing and Shanghai have just started and are far from reaching the scale that can mass-produce firearms.
The military industry in Foshan and Anping has some foundation. They have long been able to produce turtle-dove-foot blunderbuss and Lumi blunderbuss. However, the output is far from meeting the demand for weaponizing new weapons to overcome difficulties. Fire blunderbuss are consumables and cannot be used in high-intensity training. It is easily worn out during combat. Therefore, there must be a larger output to support a huge firearms army.
Therefore, outsourcing firearms is still very necessary at this time... This is not a comprador mentality. Today's firearms are all handicrafts, so production capacity is very slow. They all rely on the master to teach the disciples step by step. It takes three years for an apprentice to become a master. After ten or eight years, the production capacity cannot be increased at all. If the subordinates are forced to increase production and the craftsmanship is not up to standard, what they will produce will be explosive goods.
So you have to buy it if you have to!
But you can no longer buy Japanese guns that are not powerful enough. They are only emergency items. European muskets with greater power, better quality, and sufficient supply are what Prince Zhu really needs.
However, this trump card cannot be known to Fan Damen, the envoy of Hongyi Kingdom.
What Fan Damen can know now is that the Ming Prince is invincible and the Tatars in the north have been defeated!
"Bruce, you are an army officer. What do you think of the Chinese Crown Prince's army? Is it worthy of an elite army by European standards?"
Anthony Van Diemen has no interest in those thousands of dead heads that are off-putting to look at, but he must find out the true level of the Eastern army in front of him - this will determine whether Van Diemen is his friend from afar. , or evil and cruel European colonists!
His brother Bruce was an army officer in his forties who had participated in the Thirty Years' War and served as an officer in the armies of many German Protestant princes.
When Zhu Cixiang's army appeared on the street outside Yifengmen, Bruce held up his binoculars and observed carefully.
He quickly discovered that this Eastern army adopted typical Morris tactics - a battalion of about 500 people was used as the basic combat unit, with half of the pikemen and half of the light firemen, and 3-pound artillery at the regiment level... ...In addition, they also inserted bayonets into the muzzles of some light matchlock guns. It looks good, but I don’t know how they inserted it?
What impressed Bruce the most was the orderly formation of this Eastern army!
He has never seen such a strict army in the East. Even in the West, such an army can be considered elite!
"They are very strong, and military threats will not work!" Bruce put down the telescope, pondered for a while, and whispered, "Anthony, it seems we have to reconsider the content of the treaty..."
