prosperous age

Chapter 62 Chapter 62
The Ming Dynasty during the Jiajing period was really troubled.

From the civil uprising in Lipu, Guangxi in the first year of Jiajing, the civil war caused by the miners’ uprising in Qingzhou, to the repeated violations of the border wall by the little Mongolian prince, to the mutiny caused by the Ming army’s ruthless strife, and the intrusion of Japanese pirates, It seems that the entire empire is in a precarious and besieged situation.

Especially in the 29th year of Jiajing, the Mongolian Tatar Alta Khan harassed Gyeonggi, which completely exposed the weakness of the imperial military power.

Going forward more than 100 years, during the Yongle period, the Mongolian Tartars saw that the Ming army hadn't run far, so how could they have the slightest idea of ​​attacking Beijing.

In those foreign wars, whether it was the Mongols or the Japanese pirates, in fact, not many troops were invested, and Altan Khan brought more than [-] troops that time.

The Mongol Tartars raided and harassed at least a few hundred, as many as two or three thousand, and it was over. They captured a few border towns and ransacked them and they would be able to return with a full load. The scale of the Japanese pirates was even smaller. They landed, robbed one or two coastal villages, and sailed out to sea before the local guards and government officials arrived, and rarely fought with the officers and soldiers.

They are all here for the goods, whether they can fight or not, whether they are officers and soldiers or Japanese pirates, everyone's thoughts are actually the same.

And just now, Wei Guangde heard from his father that tens of thousands of Japanese pirates gathered along the coast, what is this for?
The first war of aggression against China?
This was Wei Guangde's first reaction, but he soon realized that Japanese pirates in this era are actually just a nickname, a name for pirates. In fact, the absolute main force among Japanese pirates is not Japanese, but Han Chinese. "Red scarf and red eyebrow" is a metaphor for the offender, which has a similar meaning.

"If the coastal guards are able to fight, they will report the military situation to Nanjing urgently? This is a great military achievement."

Wei Meng smiled bitterly and looked at Wu Zhankui.

Tens of thousands of Japanese pirates gathered, if they were defeated, it would definitely be a great achievement, but for the current Ming army, who would dare to claim this achievement.

"Who is the leader of the pirates, does the higher-ups know?"

Wei Guangde also knew that although he hadn't seen the situation in other guards, he still knew a lot about the situation in Jiujiang Guards from his father and uncle.

"I don't know."

Father Wei didn't answer, this time it was Wu Zhankui who said it.

"It stands to reason that if the Japanese pirates were able to join forces, there must be someone in the middle of the contact. Anyway, the news does not say who is behind the scenes."

What Wei Guangde can think of, others can naturally think of.

The Japanese pirates changed their previous method of looting in small groups, and began to try to combine vertically and horizontally. Naturally, the plan is very large. The Nanjing Military Department, the Five Armies Commander's Mansion, and the coastal guards have all taken precautions, but they are all in vain. No matter how hard you think about it, it's useless.

Since the guards are not easy to use, then gather more people and use numbers to crush them. This is the way the Nanjing Ministry of War can think of.

You gather a large team, and I will also gather a team. There are more people than you. Let's see if you dare to make trouble.

It is quite laborious for the imperial court to maintain an army of tens of thousands of people, let alone your little Japanese pirate group, it is more expensive than consumption.

"The news came this time, the guards only sent out ten hundred households, and the Nanjing side wanted elite soldiers, otherwise they wouldn't pay for it with money, so the other hundred households would not be assembled, so the two hundred households were transferred. Hand over."

Wu Zhankui continued: "The Ministry of War needs people and elite soldiers. Fortunately, we have been training in our hands. I guess we can pass this hurdle, and other guards may not be able to."

"How to say?"

Wei Guangde asked curiously, as if he didn't know something.

"This time the guards in Nanzhili will be mobilized, and each guard will recruit ten elite soldiers from the Hundred Households. The time before last year probably disgusted the adults in the Ministry of War. There are ten-year-old child soldiers and pestles. Old soldier with a cane, hehe
Zhenjiang Wei, Yangzhou Wei, Xuanzhou Wei, Anqing Wei, and our Jiujiang Wei, except for the guards on the Zhejiang side, all the guards on the Jiangnan and Yangtze River will be mobilized, and the guards on the Jiangbei side will also be mobilized. Ready to support.

It seems that except for a few guards near Zhongdu, all of Nanzhili must be prepared. That's a small [-] people, and the battle is big enough. "

As he spoke, Wu Zhankui had a look of disdain on his face.

The position is different, he naturally knows more about the situation than Wei Meng, and Wei Guangde is naturally even worse.

Those guards are worse than Jiujiang Guard.

The year before last, Jiujiang Guard could still send out more than half of its staff, what about the other guards?Less than half.

It is estimated that ten hundred households will be sent out from each guard this time, which is why.

"Uncle, I think you'd better bring all the guns with you, those are for water warfare, and land warfare is also scary, and it's really not very powerful.

If you really go to the north, don’t take it with you. If you really encounter Japanese pirates, it will still be very useful to use that thing to smash the Japanese pirates’ sea ships. "

This year, when he was training in Bengshan Fort, Wei Guangde only learned how to use the bowl-mouth gun.

When Wei Guangde first saw this thing, he thought it was a shotgun. He took his elder brother out to try it, and then he realized that this thing is actually used on warships. It uses live ammunition to bombard the waterline of enemy ships.

When shooting shotguns, the muzzle of that thing is just a small horn, and it is not accurate at all. It will fly around as soon as it comes out of the barrel, and the range is also close.

I don't know who designed this junk, but it's still made of copper.

In naval battles, it can be used to bombard the opponent's deck during the gang battle. At that time, the shotgun does not require accuracy, and the distance is also close.

"It's troublesome to transport, and besides, there's not enough gunpowder, so we can only stick to the gunner's side."

Wu Zhankui still shook his head.

In fact, the guards distribute a little gunpowder regularly, but the guards below naturally don't use it for military training, they sell it secretly for money, and it becomes a firecracker that is set off every year and festival.

That's why they sold less this year, because the two hundred households needed gunpowder to practice, which also caused the price of firecrackers in Pengze County to increase by three points during the Chinese New Year this year.

"Take it with you. Guangde said that there is a road. If we go north, we won't take it with us. Maybe we can get mother-child cannons, but it's better than nothing to fight Japanese pirates. Put it on the grain truck at that time. Put two in a grain cart."

Although the bowl-mouth gun is not very powerful, it was often pulled out to fight in the Bengshan Fort, in order to cooperate with the battle formation.

Just because he doesn't care about power doesn't mean that Wei Guangde doesn't know that cannon is the god of war.

At the very least, although the shooting range was short, Wei Guangde still felt that after the enemy approached, blasting out a bunch of shotguns with a bowl-mouthed gun could wipe out a large area.

It was precisely because of Wei Guangde's influence that Wei Wencai and Wu Dong actually understood what he meant, and strengthened the projection of firepower, striving to defeat the opponent before close combat.

Insufficient firepower phobia.

This is a disease that Wei Guangde has seen in later generations. As for how to cure it, it is to build more cannons to supplement the firepower.

Wei Guangde didn't understand the firearms of this era, so he naturally didn't know that in the next few years, someone would come up with a small melee firearm, that is, the Tiger Crouching Cannon. Its usage is actually similar to Wei Guangde's idea. The most ferocious group of the enemy's elite soldiers were killed.

Since you don’t understand, then adjust measures to local conditions, use whatever you have, it’s better than nothing.

(End of this chapter)