Zhu Di and Xu Huizu were both woken up. In the middle of the night, they braved the north wind and ran to the backyard of Jining Yamen.
The lights are bright and the figures are shaking.
Cabinet ministers Xie Jin and Ru Yu, the Minister of Hubu Xia Yuanji, the Minister of War Tiexuan, the Imperial Academy Yang Shiqi, the governor of the Chinese Army Xu Huizu, and the King of Yan Zhu Di came one after another.
This was a meeting with a high standard even though there were not many people.
Xie Jin and others were chatting, and when they saw Zhu Di and Xu Huizu coming, they all saluted.
Zhu Di shook his cold hands and asked, "Is there any urgent military information in the middle of the night?"
Tie Xuan shook his head: "I haven't heard of any military information. Besides, King Yan is with Duke Wei. If there is urgent military information, you should know it first."
Xie Jin also wanted to ask Zhu Di and Xu Huizu what happened so big that it was worthy for the emperor to pull so many people out of bed.
While everyone was discussing, Liu Changge opened the curtain and walked in. Everyone was in awe. Zhu Yunwen walked into the room. After sitting down, he looked at the people saluting and raised his hands and said: "Everyone, get up and take your seats. I have called you here tonight. Yes There is something that needs to be discussed.”
Everyone stood up and took their seats one by one.
When Zhu Di saw that the others were silent, he took the initiative to ask: "The emperor is so anxious, could it be because of the military situation?"
Zhu Yunwen waved his hand and said with a smile: "It's not military affairs, it's just military affairs."
"Military affairs?"
Zhu Di relaxed. If it's not about military affairs, just say that you don't need to distract yourself from military affairs. That's the matter of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion and the Ministry of War.
Although it was military affairs, the first person Zhu Yunwen looked at was not Xu Huizu or Tie Xuan, but Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Household Affairs: "Many intelligence proves that Timur's Eastern Expedition is inevitable. Facing such a powerful enemy, we can only rely on Shaanxi The Xingdu Si Guard Station is not enough. I plan to send my fourth uncle to fight against Timur to ensure the stability of the northwest. Is there no problem here in the Ministry of Revenue?"
Xia Yuanji stood up solemnly: "It is related to the safety of the country. Even if I have to live in chaff and wear old clothes, I will never be short of military pay."
Xie Jin, Ru Yun and others secretly snarled. Xia Yuanji can talk, but you don't look at everyone's eyes. Who among you here doesn't know that Hubu is so rich that he still eats chaff and wears out clothes? What are you doing? Didn't you say you were trousers?
What Zhu Yunwen wants is the full support of the Ministry of Revenue. Xia Yuanji is a smart man. He understands what money can be saved and what money cannot be saved. He will never hold back on military and strategic expenses.
With the full support of the Ministry of Revenue, Zhu Yunwen was more confident and looked at everyone: "The most difficult thing in the northwest campaign is logistics. During the Hongwu period, Song Guogong Feng Sheng went on an expedition to Gansu, and the imperial court could only support him with 50,000 troops and food. If it had been back then, We can support an army of 150,000. At this time, the Hami area has already been included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty. We also have enough depth to face Timur. Unfortunately, the national strength was limited back then, leaving Hami blank. Now we can only sit and defend Jiayuguan and wait for others to attack. .”
"How can the Ming Dynasty, with its mighty power, only defend but not attack? Now that we are about to go on an expedition, we should use all our strength to defeat the rebels, expand our territory, once and for all, and leave a peaceful northwest to future generations. Tamerlane wants to swallow up our Ming Dynasty. Then let’s see which one is more powerful, his saber or my fire blunderbuss. Fourth uncle, what do you think?”
Zhu Di suddenly stood up and strode out: "Although Timur is a rare and powerful enemy, our Ming Dynasty has elite warriors, and I can defeat the enemy thousands of miles away. I beheaded him as a tribute to Your Majesty. If the battle starts, I will not be victorious." Return to the court!"
Zhu Yunwen nodded slightly and looked at Tie Xuan and Xu Huizu, who had solemn faces: "The Ministry of Household Affairs supports it, and King Yan is willing. The rest is to deal with the military affairs of the Ministry of War and the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion. I know the logistics are difficult, but this difficulty is not impossible." overcome."
Xu Huizu and Tie Xuan were a little surprised and quickly stood up to ask.
Zhu Yunwen said solemnly: "There are many deserts in the northwest, and there are many winds and sands. It is not suitable to rely solely on infantry and cavalry for warfare. It is also difficult for logistics to support large army operations. If we want to solve logistical problems, we need to learn from the barbarians and gain skills to control them." "
"What does it mean to learn from the barbarians and learn skills to defeat the barbarians?"
Tie Xuan looked puzzled, this was a new word.
"Of course, we should learn from the Mongolian tribes, learn from Timur, and learn from all the enemies that can be learned. What did the Mongols rely on to cross the desert? What did Timur rely on to conquer tens of thousands of miles from east to west? They did not rely on dozens of enemies at every turn. With tens of millions of logistics, how did they cross the desert?”
Zhu Yunwen asked.
A word to wake up the dreamer.
Xu Huizu clapped his legs and shouted: "Male horse, female camel!"
Everyone was stunned.
Xie Jin, Ru Yu and others nodded repeatedly.
The Ming Dynasty did not have detailed information on what Timur relied on, but Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan still knew the capital they needed to break into the desert, and that was female horses and female camels.
When you are thirsty, you can drink mare or camel milk. When you are hungry, you can eat all kinds of dried meat. If necessary, you can kill horses and camels to eat. Just rush forward every day, you don’t need any support staff to follow you, you are both a soldier and a support staff.
Xia Yuanji breathed a sigh of relief. It was more cost-effective to requisition mares and camels than millions of migrant workers. The cost was also low, and it was easier to do.
Although there are not many war horses in the Ming Dynasty, and there are not many mares, it is still possible to recruit a group of mares from the people. Besides, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Gansu and other places have a large number of camels. Taking out 100,000 of them in one go is afraid of affecting merchants and merchants. The common people live, but it is no problem to get 50,000 to 70,000 head, and recruit another 300,000 donkeys and 500,000 migrant workers to maintain a long logistics line, and it should not be a problem to meet the 300,000 combat power for the Western Region war.
"Recruit and purchase donkeys, mares, and camels nationwide, especially female camels. The more the better, try to achieve 30,000 mares, 100,000 camels, and 300,000 donkeys. They will all be concentrated in the northwest next spring. land to serve the Northwest War."
Zhu Yunwen made up his mind. If he wanted to fight, he would mobilize enough force so as not to hold Zhu Di back.
Xia Yuanji stood up and solemnly agreed: "There is no problem with the household department!"
Tie Xuan solemnly said: "The Ministry of War has received the order!"
Xu Huizu nodded: "The Commander-in-Chief of the Five Armies is fully cooperating!"
Zhu Yunwen walked to the table, took out a sketch, and handed it to Zhu Di: "The purpose of a camel is not to carry heavy loads."
Zhu Di took the paper and looked down, only to see the camel kneeling on the ground, carrying a rather thick wooden frame on his back. The wooden frame was a bit high, with strange drawings and strange wood.
"This is?"
Zhu Di was puzzled.
Zhu Yunwen said seriously: "Timur is good at cavalry, and our Ming Dynasty mainly relies on infantry, and the number of cavalry is limited. When walking on the Gobi Desert, once encountered a cavalry surprise attack, it is easy to fall into a disadvantage. But this kind of camel city, but That can be changed.”
Zhu Di was speechless. Did you tell me a camel is a city?
Tie Xuan was a little puzzled and asked: "Your Majesty, forgive me for being ignorant, what is Camel City?"
Zhu Di handed the sketch to others for reading, and Zhu Yunwen explained: "The so-called camel city is actually similar to a chariot in the Spring and Autumn Period. However, the chariot is driven by horses, and the camel city is based on camels. Camels are tall and have strong load-bearing capacity. This kind of wooden frame box, covered with cattle felt and using thousands of camels as a city, can directly build a mobile city in the vast desert, giving fire gunmen and magic machine guns sufficient preparation time, and can also calmly kill with firearms. enemy."
"this……"
Zhu Di shivered and prayed a little for Timur.
The Ming Dynasty’s sergeants are best at not fighting in the field, but defending the city. No matter how elite cavalry you are, as long as the generals are united, live and die together, and the city walls do not fall down, then you can defend the city and let Tamerlane chew through the cities one by one. If he goes down, he will probably be the only bachelor left in Shanxi.
It is conceivable that if Timur, who was bent on defeating the main force of the Ming Dynasty in the wild, found that a city suddenly appeared on the Gobi Desert, he would turn back home crying in despair...
Camel City!
This is a good thing.
It can not only weaken the impact of the cavalry, but also provide protection for the sergeants in the "city". Even if Timur sends heavy cavalry, we can also send him some gunpowder bombs to test the damage effect of the gunpowder bombs on the heavy cavalry.
I don’t believe you, you demo. I can’t beat you to death, and I can’t shake your horse to death...
There is a city, what are the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty afraid of?
Zhu Di was more confident in this battle and wanted to see Timur's expression when he met Tuocheng.
Jie Jin, Ru Jin, Tie Xuan and others all shook their heads. What a Timur, what a powerful figure. Facing the moving city, the elite Shenji Battalion and the Ming Dynasty sergeants, they were afraid that they would have to run away. It seemed that the Northwest War The suspense is not great.
Zhu Yunwen said seriously: "How to match and build Camel City requires the Ministry of Industry to come up with the results as soon as possible. If it is short of manpower, some craftsmen from the Second Artillery Bureau can be transferred to help."
Camel City is not a simple combination of camels and boxes, but camels and boxes, camels, and camels... and finally forms a city wall. What Zhu Yunwen gave is just a simple sketch, which he learned from Junggar. Can it shine? Fever, a surprise for Tamerlane, which requires careful study by craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry.
"What happens in the northwest is a secret of the imperial court and must not be leaked. The requisition of supplies and livestock is also not allowed to be leaked. If any local officials ask, just say that there may be war in the north."
Zhu Yunwen issued a gag order.
The grand strategy of using troops in the northwest does not need to be made known to the whole court before preparations are completed. Zhu Yunwen is accustomed to making decisions before taking action, and does not fight unprepared battles.
Everyone agreed, bowed and left.
Zhu Yunwen summoned Liu Changge and Tang Buping, and asked seriously: "Are there Guangdong Chaozhou people in the Capital Security Bureau?"
Liu Changge and Tang Buping looked at each other, wondering what Zhu Yunwen was asking about. They thought about it carefully, but they had no idea. There were so many people in the Capital Security Bureau, and it was impossible for them to remember everyone's origins.
Zhu Yunwen said in a deep voice: "Let's check. I need a few Chaozhou people who are bold and careful, brave and resourceful. It is best to be good at talking and have some banditry. If there are none in the capital, we will look for them in various places and let the Guangdong Security Bureau analyze them. Everyone cooperates, the sooner the better.”
Liu Changge couldn't help but ask: "Your Majesty, there are many capable people in the Security Bureau, but I'm afraid not many meet these conditions. Why do we have to be strict with Chaozhou people?"
Zhu Yunwen smiled at the corner of his mouth: "It's always easier to get things done if you have a relationship with fellow villagers..."
