"Your Royal Highness, welcome to China!"
Prince Kong Dai's mood soon improved, because unlike a group of cold-faced uncles, the emperor of the Ming Empire was a very enthusiastic young man who could also speak fluent French.
"Your Majesty, you speak French very well." Prince Kong Dai had already bowed to Zhu Cixiang and then sat on an embroidered pier - Zhu Cixiang didn't care much about etiquette and would not go to a foreign country with equal diplomatic relations for this issue. Envoys entangled.
Of course, the envoys of the vassal state must abide by the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty and kowtow as many times as they should. However, from a legal perspective, foreign envoys who had equal diplomatic relations were not Zhu Cihong's ministers, but his guests.
"I learned it from Tang Ruowang," Zhu Cixiang said with a smile, "He is also my teacher."
Tang Ruowang did not return to China with Prince Kong Dai and Li Shaoyou. He was waiting for the death of Innocent X, who was in poor health.
Innocent X was a relatively rigid pope who was not easy to talk to. But Archbishop Chigi, the favorite to succeed the pope, is a more flexible figure. If he can be elected, he might be able to find a solution acceptable to both sides in the battle for ecclesiastical rights.
In addition, Tang Ruowang also hoped to reach a treaty with King Philip IV of Spain aimed at avoiding direct conflict between the two countries.
Zhu Cihong paused, and Xu Ermo translated the conversation between him and Kong Dai into Chinese and told it to the military attachés in the hall.
"Your Highness," Zhu Cihong said again, "Father Tang has mentioned to me more than once the great victory you achieved at Rocroix. That was in 1643, right? You were only 23 years old at that time... It’s amazing!”
The Battle of Rocroix was the famous battle of the Grand Condé, and it was also the battle that ended Spanish land hegemony!
"You're flattered," Dakondai said with a smile. "You were less than 20 years old when you commanded the Battle of Bloody Creek. You were younger than I was then... It was also a very remarkable battle!"
The Battle of Xueliuxi and the Battle of Guishan are the two battles explained in the most detail in Nanjing Jiangwu Hall - because Jiangwu Hall has detailed information on these two battles, not only the Ming army's strength, equipment, and pre-war maneuvers , wartime formations, wartime maneuvers, battle losses, battle results and other data and formation maps, and also collected information on the Qing army through the channels of Jin Yiwei.
While waiting for Zhu Cihong's court to return to Nanjing, Prince Kong Dai and his staff had repeatedly studied these two battles and other battles between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Ming Shun, and Qing Shun with incomplete information, and even I also studied the information on the Battle of Sakhalin between the Qing Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty - this was obtained by the Ming Dynasty Embassy in Japan through the Matsumae family.
After studying these battle cases, Da Kongdai was more certain of his judgment when he saw the Ming army's elite infantry and cavalry lineup for the first time.
Zhu Cixiang smiled and said: "That was indeed a very crucial victory. The current confrontation between the North and the South was established by this battle and the subsequent Battle of Guishan. And I want to break this confrontation now, so I hope you can With help... Your Highness, for the sake of the friendship between Ming Dynasty and France, I hope you can consider serving as my general military adviser and explain the classic battle cases of the Thirty Years War to me and my generals! Because although we We have similar equipment and training to the armies of powerful European countries, but we don’t know how to use them most effectively because we don’t have enough experience.”
Prince Condai smiled and said: "Your Majesty the Emperor, I am very willing to serve you... But one thing I must point out is that your army cannot compare with the armies of powerful European countries in terms of equipment and training!"
"Really?" Zhu Cixi asked with a smile, "So where do you think we are still lacking?"
"Artillery and horseback troops." Kong Dai said, "In terms of equipment and training, your field artillery has not formed a system, but it is enough to deal with the Qing army in the north, but your horseback troops are out of date. , which is not practical. Therefore, at the campaign level, your enemy the Qing army has the initiative.
If it weren't for the low-cost mound bastions that limited the Qing army's strategic advantages and made it difficult for them to attack you in depth, you would be even more passive. "
"You are right," Zhu Cixiang nodded. "Our weakness is indeed the cavalry. The main problem is that we do not have good war horses. This problem is being gradually solved."
"No, Your Majesty, I am talking about the mounted troops, including but not limited to cavalry." Condai said, "In fact, the reason why your army is passive at the battle level is not the lack of knights or shock cavalry... ..but the lack of a mounted force to do chores.”
"Equestrian troops that do odd jobs?" Zhu Cixiang asked, "You mean the kind of light cavalry that undertakes the tasks of reconnaissance, harassment, and battlefield blockade?"
"It can also be mounted infantry," Kong Dai said with a smile. "I noticed that the Qing Dynasty in the north currently controls the Mongolian grassland... This means that they have a highly motorized mounted force. In terms of light cavalry, , it should be difficult for your knights to compete with them. So, why not use mounted infantry equipped with muskets and sabers? The Qing Dynasty seems to have used such troops on Sakhalin Island, why don't you have the same troops?"
"You mean dragoons?"
"More or less," Condai said, "In fact, they are just troops doing chores. They are very effective against backward nomads... They can also play a greater role on the European battlefield. Thousands of them can be on horseback. Fighting on horseback and equipped with flintlock troops can completely change the passivity of the Ming army at the battle level."
Zhu Cixiang shook his head: "But the Qing army's rangers are all good at riding and shooting, and have strong hand-to-hand combat capabilities, and there are many of them!"
"Oh, it's like this," Prince Condé said, "troops on horseback have more initiative than troops advancing on foot. The combination of the mobility of horses, flintlocks and 3-pound cannons is Initiative... So they don't necessarily have to engage in mounted combat with the enemy, they may be able to set up an ambush, they may be able to attack at night, they may be able to dismount and occupy favorable terrain, or they may be able to escape.
And their targets are not necessarily the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry, but also their food transport teams, or villages with little defense, or wheat fields about to be harvested... They can even form 2,000 people or more A large group, pull up the 3-pound cavalry cannon and the 24-pound mortar to attack the castle behind the enemy!
Of course, such miscellaneous troops are also very useful in the main battle! It can seize advantageous terrain, pursue remnants of the enemy, detour the enemy's flanks or rear, set up ambushes on the battlefield, quickly reinforce or launch attacks, and can even maneuver with a 3-pound gun.
In case of defeat, they can also be responsible for covering the retreat of the main force!
So, in my opinion, you spend so much money on bringing in Arabian horses that really don't do much good, and are too expensive...those short, fat Chinese horses will suffice. With that kind of money, it is better to buy more heavy-duty draft horses. They are very important for logistics and artillery motorization.
As for your big knights, they are really outdated and useless... If they are used as shock cavalry, they need large European war horses to run fast. They went into close combat as dismounted knights, rather than using fusiliers equipped with bayonets. As for the ability to shoot arrows while riding a horse, it was of little use in the era of cannons and muskets. It's better to disband them, let these big guys receive officer training, and then go to the grassroots to lead troops. In the Thirty Years' War in Europe, the losses of grassroots officers were staggering! "
The military attachés of the Ming Dynasty in the Fengtian Palace listened to Xu Ermo's "Prince Kong asked questions" and all put away their contemptuous expressions.
It seems that this iron-willed king of France still has a lot of tricks up his sleeve!
Of course, it is impossible to be convinced, but for the emperor's sake, let's go and make up for a few lessons!
