prosperous age

Chapter 693 Chapter 792 New Beijing Camp

The first draft of Qi Jiguang's "Zou Chen Bian Wu Shu" begins with the words "Although there are many soldiers in Jizhen, there are few. There are few elite soldiers, many of them are just scrappers, and their training is insufficient.

This was Wei Guangde's immediate reaction when he saw the memorial, but of course he knew about it, and he had seen it with his own eyes.

It's just that Qi Jiguang's vision is of course not comparable to Wei Guangde's. Although he only has a quick glance, he can see that there are many problems.

Of course, the memorials are written in classical Chinese. Although Qi Jiguang did not take the imperial examination like Yu Dayou, he had studied essays since he was a child, so he was naturally able to do it himself.

Wei Guangde continued to look down and soon knew what he saw.

There are seven reasons for saying that Jimen soldiers are numerous in name but insufficient in reality.

The soldiers stationed in the garrison do not learn military affairs, but are fond of trivial skills. The strong soldiers are dispatched by the generals, and only the old and weak soldiers are in the army. This is the first;

The frontier village has many twists and turns, but there are few postal agencies. Envoys and guests are constantly coming and going, and there is no time to greet them every day. Participating generals and guerrillas become post envoys, and barracks and gates become post stations. This is the second;

The enemy bandits come to attack, but they have no way to dispatch them, and they rush for a long distance, and both men and horses are injured, which is the third;

The soldiers defending the frontier lacked strict restraint, and their ranks were disorganized, ranking fourth;
In battle, cavalry do not use horses but walk on foot. This is fifth;

The family soldiers are full of energy but the army's morale is scattered, this is the sixth;

To set up frontier barriers without choosing priorities, and to disperse troops due to numerous defensive positions, this is the seventh.

If these seven disadvantages are not eliminated, how can military preparations be done well?
In addition, there are six faults for soldiers not training, and four faults for training without benefit.

What is non-training?
The border stronghold relies on soldiers, and the soldiers rely on generals. Nowadays, the orders of grace and power cannot make people convinced, and the camp regulations and regulations cannot make them work together. It is difficult to drive them slowly or urgently. This is the first;

Possessing a firearm without knowing how to use it is the second;
Abandon training of local people, this is the third;

The soldiers transferred from various towns to enrich the frontier defense are under the control of their own non-local guards and have no discipline. This is the fourth;

There are more than 4 militiamen in partial divisions, and each of them is of one mind. This is the fifth;

The most important thing in military training is to train generals. At present, pay attention to the martial arts examination. The selection and recommendation of various methods are similar to this, but this is the selection of generals, not the way to train generals. This is the sixth.

As for the four points that Qi Jiguang said were useless even though they were practiced, these were his ideas after observing military training in various places.

Nowadays, there are often ten soldiers in a battalion as gunners. They do not know that in the art of war, various weapons are used interchangeably. The long guard should be used to defend the short, and the short should be used to save the long. This is the first.

The soldiers of the three armies each have their own special skills, and they should be prepared for war drums, flags, etc. Nowadays, they are all abandoned. This is the second reason.

The skill of drawing the bow and archery cannot be stronger than that of the enemy, but if you want to use it to win, this is the third.

The methods of coaching have their own origins and systems. If the appearance is beautiful, it is not practical, and if it is practical, it is not beautiful. Today's training has no real content. This is the fourth.

"Yuan Jing, according to what you said, it seems that the Jizhen army has been abolished."

After reading Qi Jiguang's memorial, Wei Guangde thought for a while before speaking.

"Mr. Wei Ge, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, it would be hard to believe that our Ming Dynasty frontier army has been reduced to this, with only a mere charade left.

The last general just went to various places to gather troops and watched them practice for a while. Although some places seemed to have uniform movements, they were just like that. Many soldiers even didn't know how to use the strengths of the weapons in their hands.

Those who use firearms don't know how to use firearms, and there are more people who use firearms. They are all old and weak, which is almost the same as that of the Beijing camp.

As for the generals, it was even more unbearable. Except for some brave and ruthless ones, they just fought the enemy with brute force, and they didn't know how to train soldiers and practice combat skills.

It can only be said that for so many years, the Tartars have not been able to attack the capital, which is extremely lucky, otherwise it would be hard to imagine that such a sergeant could resist the wolf-like Tartars. "

Qi Jiguang seemed a little saddened and said, he hated the stupidity of the generals everywhere.

Wei Guangde blinked, not completely believing Qi Jiguang's words.

He believed that there was some news, or speculation, that people in the Ministry of War must know that Tan Lun wanted to take Qi Jiguang to Jizhen as the chief military officer when he went to governor Jiliao himself.

Now that he is talking about the soldiers and horses in Jizhen so unbearably, there may be other meanings behind it.

At least, others can't see the shortcomings of the Ming army. If he can, he will naturally have a way to train troops.

After training these generals, shouldn't he be given a different position, such as Chief Military Officer of Ji Town?
When the time comes, Qi Jiguang will be promoted, and Tan Lun will be satisfied.

Of course, the imperial court would not lose anything with such a transfer of positions, and the Beijing camp did not have to leave Qi Jiguang behind for training.

As long as Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang put up the airs of the reform of the Beijing camp, those nobles will be happy to pick peaches.

In fact, even now, some people already want to do this, and when the preparations for the grand parade are almost ready, let Qi Jiguang move.

All the words were delivered to him, and they were still sent through Xu Wenbi.

At that time, although Wei Guangde sternly refused, he was mainly worried that there would be trouble at the parade, but if Qi Jiguang voluntarily withdrew from the parade and went to Jizhen to be the commander-in-chief, it seemed that he would not be unable to agree.

Of course, the premise is that the soldiers of the parade must be well trained and will not lose the chain at critical moments.

"You have seen Jizhou, Changping, and Baoding. Do you want to go to Jizhou to be the commander-in-chief?"

Wei Guangde asked abruptly.

The sudden change of face made Qi Jiguang a little unexpected, but the tension on his face returned to normal in just a moment, but it was still caught by Wei Guangde's eyes.

"The last general is an official ordered by the imperial court. Naturally, I can go wherever the imperial court tells me to go. There is absolutely no other meaning."

At this moment, Qi Jiguang got up and clasped his fists and said to Wei Guangde, very polite.

"You belittled the soldiers and horses around Gyeonggi earlier, but I understand that they do have many problems.

As for your claim that luckily the Tartars did not gather an army to besiege the capital, that is too underestimating my Ming frontier army.

Just say that the nearest border town to the capital, besides Jizhou, is Xuanfu. I wonder if Yuan Jing has heard of the combat power of the Xuanfu army.

Just last month, Ma Fang, the commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu, led more than a thousand troops, and went [-] miles away from Dushikou to attack the Alda tribe at Changhaizi. Anzishan.

With such strong troops at their side, would the Tatars still dare to besiege the capital? "

Wei Guangde wanted to beat Qi Jiguang. Don't think that because he had won many battles in the south, he looked down on the generals of the Northern Army.

If he went to Ji Town with such a mentality, Wei Guangde would not dare to let him go, not because he was worried that he would be discordant with his colleagues, in fact, Qi Jiguang would be a thief in dealing with interpersonal relationships, but because he was afraid that he would be tricked in the border town.

In fact, the current Ming army already has the embryonic form of the later national army, which is designed to pit teammates.

"Xuanfu's army surpasses the frontier army in terms of combat power, the last general is of course convinced.

Not to mention anything else, General Ma dared to lead his troops out of the fortress to attack the Tartars, which is not something that ordinary generals would dare to do.

However, the frontier army lacks training, the overall combat power is insufficient, and the generals are ineffective in command. If there are no unscrupulous generals to practice, I am afraid that the capital will be in danger. "

Qi Jiguang said quickly.

How could he not know about the relationship between Wei Guangde and the Xuanfu Army? When Wei Guangde mentioned the Xuanfu Army, Qi Jiguang immediately flattered him.

When Wei Guangde heard Qi Jiguang's words, he just smiled, and then said seriously: "If the people from Jizhou were entrusted to you, what would you do?"

Wei Guangde was studying how Qi Jiguang was going to reform Jizhen soldiers and horses. Although he would definitely not be able to outplay the famous Qi Huhu in leading troops to fight, but listening to his strategy, he had a certain idea in his mind.

For example, he recommended Qi Jiguang in the memorial, and if Emperor Longqing asked about it in private, he would have said it.

He couldn't let him say to Emperor Longqing, "Your Majesty, you should go and read Qi Jiguang's memorabilia yourself. Qi Jiguang has written about the issue of soldiers and horses in Jizhou in the memorandum."

Hearing Wei Guangde's question, Qi Jiguang just thought about it and replied: "The general heard that the shape of soldiers is like water, and water flows with the ground, and the tactics of winning must be determined according to different terrains.

There are three types of landforms in Jizhou. The vast plains and fields are the landforms south of the inland area;

When the enemy enters the plains, it is better to fight with vehicles; in the interior near the border, it is better to fight on horseback; outside the border, it is better to fight on foot. Only by using the three interactively can we gain the initiative to win the war.

Today's frontier soldiers only practice riding horses and are not familiar with the formations of mountain battles, forest battles, and narrow valley battles. The soldiers trained in Zhejiang by the late generals at the beginning can do it. "

"Any news from Zhejiang?"

Hearing Qi Jiguang talk about Zhejiang soldiers, Wei Guangde suddenly became interested.

"The last general has received the letter. Zhejiang really doesn't want to raise so many Zhejiang soldiers. It wants to disband them and let them disarm and return to the fields. My letter can be sent to directly mobilize 3000 troops to go north."

Qi Jiguang said hurriedly.

"Are they entering the Beijing camp, or are you planning to take them to Ji Town to serve as a squadron?"

Wei Guangde asked again.

"Old Huige, if the soldiers trained by the last general had not been under the general's command for many years, they would definitely not be able to use them, so the last general wanted to bring him to Jizhou.

With three thousand Zhejiang soldiers as the base, and thousands of well-trained troops in Jizhou, I dare not say that Jizhou is impregnable from now on. If the Tatars dare to come, I will break out the Great Wall and chase them north. "

When Qi Jiguang talked about the Zhe soldiers, he immediately became very imposing. After all, his outstanding martial arts were all based on these soldiers.

With Zhejiang soldiers in hand, Jiangshan and I have the feeling that there is no rival in this world.

However, Wei Guangde has seen Qi Jiguang's record, and it seems that the Zhejiang soldiers have really been played well in his hands, especially the combination of long and short weapons after the Zhejiang soldiers were trained by him, so that Qi's army can play jaw-dropping battles on the battlefield. Battle loss ratio.

The multi-arms coordination tactics were mastered by Qi Jiguang.

"How do you plan to reform the training of Jizhou people?"

Wei Guangde then asked again.

"As long as the imperial court gives me [-] gunners from the Zhejiang army, recruit strong soldiers from the northwest, equip five cavalry units and ten infantry units, and listen to my special training, and supply everything needed by the army at any time, Jizhou will be as strong as gold. "

Qi Jiguang replied hurriedly. He felt that his goal was expected to be achieved.

Although Wei Guangde seemed to have seen through his idea of ​​going out to lead the army, he did not refuse.

"Earlier when your Zhejiang soldiers went north, you transferred all the gunners?"

Wei Guangdehu questioned.

The gunner is not an artilleryman, but a bird gunner.

However, firearms are simple in this era. In fact, most of the bird gunners also use firearms such as Franco cannons. In fact, it is most appropriate to supplement the Shenjiying.

But Qi Jiguang didn't want to stay in the capital camp, and Tan Lun also wanted to take him away. Naturally, Wei Guangde couldn't ignore his wishes. After all, they were all fellow villagers, and they had to support each other in court.

"Two thousand gunners, one thousand killers."

Qi Jiguang said that the killer he was talking about was of course not a master assassin, but a soldier, or the infantry who put together a formation of mandarin ducks.

"The battle in the north is different from the Japanese suppression in the south. Here, as long as you hold your ground, gunners are actually more conducive to killing the enemy."

Qi Jiguang explained.

"You originally had 6000 troops, but the killer and the gunner each have [-]?"

Wei Guangde asked curiously.

"Yes, it is exactly the configuration that the old man said."

Qi Jiguang immediately nodded in recognition.

"Then you should send the documents for sending troops north to the Ministry of War as soon as possible. Although brother Zili is not in the Ministry of War, there will be no hindrance.

As the new year approaches, the selection of soldiers should be completed as soon as possible, and immediately go north after the new year.

It's not a big problem if you want to go to Ji Town, but after the Zhejiang soldiers arrive, they must first participate in the Grand Parade. Your main responsibility is still the Grand Parade.

The soldiers have been trained, you can go to Jizhou as long as you want, understand? "

Wei Guangde said after thinking about it.

"I will thank Mr. Wei Ge for his cultivation, but I will do my best to complete the mission if I have one."

Qi Jiguang bowed again and saluted.

"You should keep this memorandum first, and then polish it. Don't rush to submit it, and train your soldiers well first."

While talking, Wei Guangde handed back the memorial to Qi Jiguang, and then picked up the teacup.

After Qi Jiguang left, Wei Guangde shook his head and chuckled.

Qi Jiguang has always been a general who grew up locally, and he doesn't know how many people are watching him as an official.

Now Qi Jiguang's job is still the deputy general of the Jingying Shenji Battalion, and concurrently the post of Prime Minister Jichang Baoding Military Training Commander.

Because this part-time job was initially set up, the position of military training commander was set up to facilitate his selection of soldiers, which was originally regarded as a redundant position by the governor's mansion and local generals.

It is obvious that the imperial court does not believe in the level of generals in various places, and thinks that they cannot train good soldiers, so they set up such a position.

Among the civil servants, there are also some who regard it as tasteless.

Come on, when the preparations for the parade are ready, let him go to Jizhou to be the general soldier.

Originally in Wei Guangde's plan, the reorganized Beijing camp was to be handed over to him to command. After all, generals with actual combat experience, especially Wei Guangde also wanted to try to form a modern firearms unit in this era.

Many people may think that in the Ming Dynasty, it was difficult to form a modern army because of the backwardness of firearm technology, especially the slow loading speed and poor firepower persistence, but this is not the case.

Wei Guangde has already noticed the advantages of the Frangler cannon. If a large number of Frangler cannons are equipped with well-trained bird gunners, and there are generals with experience in this field to command, Wei Guangde thinks it may not be impossible to succeed.

As for the range, of course it will definitely be difficult to solve based on the technical characteristics of the Fran cannon.

The well-known front-loading gun Hongyi cannon in the late Ming army solved the range problem, but this thing was originally a cannon developed for warships to shoot at each other. It can also be used as a fortress gun in a fortress, but it is really not conducive to field battles.

Qi Jiguang returned to the capital and re-invested in training soldiers to prepare for the grand parade.

After more than half a month, Tan Lun's inspection tour was finally completed and he returned to the capital.

(End of this chapter)