I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 482: The seven temples were granted the title of official sacrifice to heaven

Chapter 511

If more than two thousand heavy cavalry are available to European countries, although it is very difficult, they can still be obtained. At least the Spanish Empire or the United Kingdom of the Netherlands have this strength.

Even now, Spain still retains five heavy cavalry in name. Of course, this is only in name. Just like the nominal army of more than two million people in the Chongzhen Dynasty, the specific number of heavy cavalry only exists on paper. We can fight, but only God knows.

But what shocked them the most was not the Ming Dynasty’s artillery, which consisted of hundreds of artillery pieces. Countries in Europe had this strength to some extent. Even Venice, the Ming Dynasty’s vassal state, was small and had a small population. But in fact, they There are quite a lot of artillery. There are more than 200 large-caliber artillery deployed in the city of Venice alone. If you include the navy's naval guns, there are more than three to four thousand.

If you count the per capita artillery possessions, Venice is definitely the country with the highest per capita artillery possessions in the world, and there is no other country. When Venice had the smallest population, there were only more than 185,000 people, but they had nearly 3,300 There are multiple artillery pieces, with an average of one artillery piece for every six people.

This ratio is really scary. Unlike in history, Europe's understanding of the Ming Dynasty is very limited. Spain once tried to conquer the Ming Dynasty with 20,000 troops.

In fact, 20,000 troops are still the indigenous troops of most of the colonies. However, in recent years, the Ming Dynasty has become more and more active. Ming warships and sailors can be seen in the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean.

What scares European countries the most is that the infantry of the Ming Dynasty, especially the Dutch and Spanish, were beaten by the Ming Army's army. They knew very well the true strength of the Ming Army. Whether it was the Spanish Army or the Dutch Army, in the Ming Army In front of him, there is absolutely no chance or ability to fight back.

The soldiers of the Ming Army, a total of seven to eight thousand people, waved their arms uniformly and walked forward in uniform steps. Still, so neat! The troops of seven or eight thousand people formed a neat line no matter which direction they looked at. The amplitude of their arm swings and the size of their steps were almost exactly the same. How did they do this!

At the forefront is the first regiment of the first brigade of the Ming Dynasty Royal Army. This army was the first to form an army. They were already established when Cheng Shijie was serving as the Dengzhou Guard Zuo Qianhu. Later, Cheng Shijie was promoted to Ning Haijun Garrison, Ning Haijun After its establishment, their first battle was to launch the Dengzhou mutiny.

He captured the city of Dengzhou almost without bloodshed, and even captured Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, alive. He then put down Kong Youde's rebellion, and then crossed east to Liaonan and won a great victory in Haizhou.

Whether they are Jian slaves, Mongols, Xiaobenzi, or Dutch, they can be seen whether in Liaodong or southeast, in the Central Plains or in the west.

These are the warriors who struggled out of the mountains of corpses and seas of blood! In fact, Cheng Shijie also played a little trick during the military parade. In this military parade, no matter whether it was cavalry, artillery, infantry or naval soldiers, there were no new recruits, and the average per capita had been in the army for at least three years, and the per capita beheading was at least level five. .

Cheng Shijie saw the army appear and immediately said: "Beat the drum!"

"Dong dong dong..."

As the war drums sounded, Cheng Shijie stood on the top of the city and said: "Attack!!"

As soon as Cheng Shijie's voice fell, the infantry troops of the Ming Dynasty who were on military parade seemed to have suddenly returned to the battlefield of flesh and blood where the setting sun was like blood and millions of corpses lay buried. All the soldiers looked straight, and their eyes became sharp and sharp.

They held their weapons tightly with both hands and stared at the black battle flag without blinking. A bloodthirsty aura slowly rose from their bodies, as if they were back on the battlefield again. The enemy troops were coming from all over the field, and the horns were blowing. They also rushed forward from all over the mountains and plains, and the one at the front was always this black battle flag.

They were also in a row of ten cavalry, a total of more than twenty rows, carrying rifles on their backs, sabers pointing upwards, and their horses' hooves were raised and lowered neatly. Behind them were more than two thousand infantrymen, wearing black cloaks and black military uniforms, with only the cold light of their bayonets flashing, following the general's flag as they advanced layer by layer.

At this time, Cheng Shijie was standing on the top of the city, high-spirited. Emperor Chongzhen looked at Cheng Shijie on the city wall from the bottom of the city, and felt extremely sad. Everything originally belonged to him, but now, it all belongs to Cheng Shijie.

Francesco Elizzo, the Venetian consul, asked cautiously: "Your Majesty, your Majesty, with such an army, how many troops does the Ming Dynasty have?"

Cheng Shijie really couldn't answer this question. The Ming Dynasty's army had uncertainties. First of all, it was the army. The regular army had a total of thirty-nine brigades. However, these thirty-nine brigades had arrogant autonomy. For example, they were stationed in the north. Each brigade will summon the surrounding tribal cavalry, and will also temporarily arm a certain amount of servant troops due to war or practical needs.

This number is very arbitrary. If we only count the number of soldiers in the military register, the number of army soldiers currently totals 39 brigades and 18 independent regiments, and the total number of soldiers in the army is 979,653. people.

If counted as the number of naval personnel, the navy currently has eight fleets under its jurisdiction, and the eight fleets have thirty-two strike squadrons under its jurisdiction. The total number of the entire army exceeds 476,900.

The largest uncertain number is actually in the chieftain army. They serve as soldiers in war and for the people in leisure time. I am afraid that Qin Liangyu, the commander of the chieftain army, does not know how many people there are in the chieftain army. For example, the number of people participating in this battle will be more, maybe more than 700,000, and the next battle will not require too many people. The number of the chieftain's army may be 500,000, and at least it will be more than 30. Thousands of people.

"I can't tell you clearly now. It should be over two million!"

Cheng Shijie's attitude towards the data reported by the military department was equally casual. After all, the current military's path is very wild. Without Cheng Shijie's order, there would be no ambiguity when it was time to take action. They would retire a group of soldiers immediately and then use civilian excuses. Participate in the war in the name of the regiment.

"should?"

Francesco Elizzo was a little dumbfounded. I am afraid that except for the Ming Dynasty, all other countries in the world increased the number of generals as a way to promote force. The Ming Dynasty was the only country to be so casual on this issue.

Cheng Shijie said calmly: "There is indeed no way to determine the detailed figures. The Ming Dynasty is currently using troops in Siberia, Indochina Peninsula and Central Asia. Soldiers will be killed or injured every moment. Soldiers are recruited every year, and soldiers are recruited every moment. There will be corresponding soldiers who apply to retire from active service. Even the number of soldiers in the military department can change at any time!"

The Ming Dynasty now adopts a military service system that combines compulsory and voluntary military service. With the Ming Dynasty’s successive victories in foreign wars, the welfare benefits and social status of joining the army have been greatly improved. If the review of joining the army is relaxed, the Ming army will The army has surged to tens of millions, which is definitely not a problem.

The number of people in the army is not the most important issue of the Ming Dynasty now. Just like the population of the Ming Dynasty, new babies are born every moment, and people also die unexpectedly. In addition, with backward information, it is difficult to obtain detailed data like that of later generations. It can only be an approximate.

Anthony, the governor of the Dutch East India Company, felt a deep sense of powerlessness in his heart when he heard Cheng Shijie casually and disapprovingly saying that the Ming Dynasty had more than two million troops.

Now there are no 39 million people in the Netherlands. Until the 1700th year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (), the population of the Netherlands was about million. Thanks to its advanced maritime vision, maritime technology, geographical location, trade spirit and maritime The combined effect of multiple factors such as exploration made China a powerful maritime country and achieved maritime hegemony.

During the same period, the Russian Empire, the Spanish Empire, the Ottoman Turkish Empire, the Qing Empire, the Kingdom of France, the Kingdom of England, the Mughal Empire and other countries.

No one dared to confront the 1 ships of the "Sea Coachman" Holland on the sea. The Netherlands in the Golden Age created many firsts in the world, and it was these firsts that supported the Netherlands to become a maritime hegemon.

However, it is a pity that in this time and space, the Dutch have just risen. They didn't even have time to take away Damuan Island from the Spanish, before they were pushed to the ground and rubbed by Cheng Shijie. The rise of the Netherlands in history mainly relied on the East. acquired wealth.

However, even in its heyday, the Netherlands had more than 15,000 sailing ships of various types, with a tonnage of more than 900,000 tons, but now the Ming Dynasty has exceeded the tonnage in its heyday.

More than two million troops, this is a number that makes the whole of Europe despair. The Spanish envoys and representatives are not worried. The most important thing they lack is land. If Ming wants it, they can give it to Ming. Anyway, they can give Ming more land. Spain also doesn’t have that many people to work these lands.

The Ottoman Empire's envoy, who had a bad relationship with the Ming Dynasty, looked very ugly. The Ottoman Empire's army's combat effectiveness can only be regarded as average. They have now expanded to have more than 350,000 army troops, including thousands of artillery pieces. In Europe, it is a behemoth that makes the soil tremble.

But the problem is that the Ottoman Empire's army is far from enough for the Ming Dynasty, especially with the murderous elite troops in front of them, ten against one, the Ottoman Empire is not sure of victory.

Francesco Elizzo asked: "Your Majesty, when will you send the Ming army to Venice?"

"Counting the time, we have almost arrived in Northern Candia!"

Cheng Shijie said: "Francesco, you have learned Chinese well. We must vigorously develop education. Children are the future of the empire!"

Francesco Elizzo said: "My lord, after we go back, we will start building the school, but for the teachers... we still need His Majesty the Emperor to send teachers."

"This is no problem!"

The Ming Dynasty is different from other countries, especially in the emphasis on education. In the past, the Ming Dynasty did not have the opportunity. Now the Dingxin Dynasty provides free education, so the enthusiasm of adults is also very high.

Cheng Shijie looked at Sun Zhiman and said, "How many graduates are there in this year's school?"

"I haven't carefully counted this!"

Sun Zhidan said: "According to previous data, there are at least 700,000 graduates from middle schools and above!"

Listening to this number, the European representatives collectively fell silent. Some facts are indeed very hurtful to say.

In Europe today, the total number of students in all countries may not be 700,000, including those who can read a few words. Even Venice, the most economically developed city, has a population of more than one million, but can still go to school. , there are less than 30,000 students who can obtain education.

This is the country with the highest education ratio in Europe. It is very difficult for Great Britain to find 30,000 literate people. Spain does have 30,000 students, but the question is, how many people are there in the Spanish Empire?

How important is language?

In Europe, people who can speak a few words of Chinese can serve as translators, and the whole family will be lifted out of poverty and become rich in no time. The treatment of some translators makes even the small and medium-sized bourgeoisie extremely jealous.

The current scholars in the Ming Dynasty are mainly scholars from the old era, who quickly accepted the concepts of new learning. They already had a very strong foundation. Those who can be admitted to the scholar examination are themselves academic masters. The scholar examination is much more difficult than that of the key universities in later generations. .

A county only has 40 places in three years, with an average of more than a dozen people a year. Such results are enough for Qingbei.

Faced with Ming's inadvertent revelation of confidence and strength, representatives from various European countries were very hurt. Ming was too powerful, so powerful that they had no will to resist.

The people who were injured at the same time also included Emperor Chongzhen. Chongzhen looked at the cheering crowd, all of them were beaming with joy and did not seem to be hypocritical. He muttered: "Do all the people really hate the Zhu family and are happy to welcome the new emperor?"

Empress Zhou warned: "Your Majesty, sir, be careful what you say."

As the military parade at Anding Gate ended, Cheng Shijie and Xiang Hui left in the imperial chariot. He was too far away and could only see the canopy of the imperial chariot, but not Cheng Shijie and Xiang Hui sitting on it.

A feeling of sadness arose spontaneously. When I succeeded to the throne as emperor, I had never been so solemn!

Emperor Chongzhen is very hurt now, but Emperor Chongzhen also understands that the more ignored he is now, the safer he will be.

Cheng Shijie's biggest headache is that becoming emperor requires the title of seven temples.

The seven temples refer to the temples of the four relatives (the great ancestor, the great ancestor, the ancestor and the father), the second temple (the great ancestor’s father and grandfather) and the temple of the first ancestor. After becoming the emperor, the ancestors of the family will also have to enjoy the "blessings" with their descendants. , receive incense and worship, and then the emperor will set up seven temples to worship his ancestors.

His seventh-generation ancestors cannot be made up. Ming officials found all seven-generation ancestors for Cheng Shijie, including his nominal father Cheng Yongxing, nominal grandfather Cheng Guiping, great-grandfather Cheng Fumin, great-great-grandfather Cheng Longfei, then Cheng Zhongyong, and his revealed ancestor Cheng Wanbing.

The Seven Temples of the Cheng family were established and changed to the Ancestral Temple of the Zhu family. However, Cheng Shijie recognized the Zhu family as the late emperor. The Ancestral Temple was divided into two, with the Zhu family on the left and the Cheng family on the right. The Zhu family had thirteen temples and the Cheng family had seven temples posthumously.

Cheng Shijie promulgated the imperial edict and issued the first imperial edict: "Abolish Fu, the Cheng family will never enjoy Fu!"

(End of this chapter)