Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 487 6.58 The Queen Mother: Let the Zhou family have more royal ladies in the courtyard

Volume VI

6.58 The Queen Mother: Let the Zhou family have more imperial ladies in the courtyard

On the vast black land where the new greenery is just emerging, a small rabbit who came out to eat quietly got out of the still dry tall grass and ran to a patch of fresh greenery to improve his food; He hit the rabbit one step away, and the arrow hit the ground nearly halfway, but it only made the little rabbit raise its head in surprise and quickly burrowed into the tall grass.

"General Zhou, if I remember correctly, you seem to have been a martial arts scholar in the 49th year of Longwu. What you are best at is a strong bow and arrows, and you can always hit the mark, right?" Princess Yongchang was only [-] or [-] steps away, and she was full of fire. A woman in a red outfit, riding a BMW that was almost the same color as her outfit, looked at someone who was embarrassed not far away with a teasing expression, "Why, that rabbit doesn't seem to be that far away?"

"Ahem, you read it wrong. How can there be any rabbits? I just haven't shot arrows for a long time. I just drew the bow to try the feel." Shanhaiguan is less than ten miles away, so it’s the wilderness after all, and even though we defeated the main force of the rebels a few days ago, it’s hard to say if there are any leftovers, it’s been a whole morning of fun, why don’t we go back and have lunch.”

"It's such a pity for this treasured bow." Princess Yongchang rolled her eyes at someone, but she did not embarrass him any more. "You brought eighteen elite cavalrymen from hundreds of families this time, and now fifteen of them are being punished. Groups of them were scattered over hundreds of miles around. Six days have passed, and even if they haven't been cleaned up, there shouldn't be much left.

Even if we take a step back, who really wants to play some kind of 'king vs. king' trick? Don't you have three hundred households in the surrounding area?Although I can't bear to look at these people's riding skills and archery, I have to admit that they have an absolute advantage in fighting your so-called 'traditional rangers'. I am afraid that there is no cavalry in the world who can stop them. "

"My princess, times have changed." Zhou Yang jumped off the horse angrily, put the jade-waisted bow into the saddle bag, and then took a certain princess off the horse, and the two of them led the horse for a walk together, "I'm just doing this now The emergence of flintlock muskets and infantry cannons has basically eliminated the value of traditional infantry. Imagine what if firearms made further progress?
As the most powerful arm of the past dynasties, the cavalry will lose its ability to be tough and tough once firearms mature, become standardized, and become more standardized. No matter how good their riding skills or armor are, they cannot match a grain of iron sand, let alone a grain of iron sand. Nothing beats artillery bombardment. You have seen the battles of the past few days. The rebels' nearly four thousand cavalry can be considered capable of going out in the world. But when faced with artillery suppression, is there any way?
The fundamental reason why firearms are so widespread is that they are simple and cheap. If you want to get a fusilier, you only need to pull a strong farmer from the field and spend about three months training to make him basically qualified and capable of fighting at a distance. Just line up and fire volleys, and use bayonets to fight in close combat, completely replacing all infantry arms with cold weapons, and the effect is better.

The same goes for my cavalry. It is not an advanced or elite unit in nature, but it is easy to train and easy to use. The most important thing is that it is almost crushing compared to the traditional cavalry. Once it appears on the battlefield, what will happen? Cavalry, archery and guerrillas will lose their value, but training is much simpler than traditional cavalry! "

"No need to boast anymore, I haven't seen you in the past few days." Princess Yongchang rolled her eyes at someone, let him tie up the two horses, gently held her in her arms and looked towards the mountains and forests not far away, "Speaking of which, The leader of the rebel army was not bad at all. He secretly amassed nearly two thousand horse thieves by virtue of his status as a servant of the foreign affairs steward of the Dongping Palace, and became the most outstanding thieves leader in the entire Baishan Heishui.

It's a pity that he is really a descendant of the pseudo-royal family who didn't say that he had killed cleanly at the beginning, and he still has some ability; I learned from the captive rebel leader that he had already pulled out a lot of rebels, but because of the construction After his identity as a slave was exposed, at least half of the people chose not to pay any attention to him. "

"Don't worry. The most troublesome thing for the imperial court has never been their fighting strength for this kind of rebels. It's that they are wandering around and have difficulty catching the main force. Now that he lost most of the cavalry in one battle, he has been interrupted. Legs; there are only a few cities in the entire Baishan and Heishui that can truly be called cities. When the reinforcements come and capture Shengjing City, this so-called 'rebellion' will be equal to [-]% to [-]% eliminated." Zhou Yang smiled. said.

While he was talking, he happened to see a huge tree stump on the roadside not far away, which was as thick as two people's arms. He pulled out a tanned bearskin mat from the saddle bag - this was also his "result" in the past few days. ——On the bunk, he sat down with the girl in his arms, and took two small wine bottles from Princess Yongchang's horse robe, and each of them took a sip.

"Then how do you think the next battle should be fought?" Princess Yongchang asked with a smile.

"It's very simple. To sum it up in six words, 'Fortify the stronghold and fight stupidly'." Zhou Yang smiled and recounted the strategy he used when he killed the Taiping Army. "Arrange defensive camps at each key point, or use the help of towns. , Baishan and Heishui are sparsely populated and development is limited. There are only those places that are truly inhabited, and even fewer that can be called prosperous.

The mountains and forests here are densely populated, and there are very few roads. Unless the rebels can burrow through the mountains and forests, and then feed and drink themselves like blind bears and Siberian tigers, otherwise as long as they leave the mountains and forests, they will have to get supplies. We can only risk attacking the nearest camp or town, and then we will deploy a certain number of elite cavalry to wander around."

"It is absolutely impossible for the rebels who have been dispersed to gather more than [-] cavalry. Even if it is a waste of [-] battalions, as long as they are suppressed as a unit, they can still suffer heavy casualties. The court has plenty of supplements, but the rebels can only There will be fewer and fewer fights!" Princess Yongchang nodded with a sneer and said, "That's right, in this way, we don't even need to mention any rebellion, just say it is about exterminating bandits and bandits."

"My Princess, are you relieved this time? Let's go. It's almost noon. There's no need to drag it around in the countryside, right? The rest is just to clean up slowly. It won't be long before we don't need to stay here. We're going down," Zhou Yang smiled and hugged the girl's slim waist - without pulling, "What's wrong?" "Huh!" Princess Yongchang rolled her eyes at him, pulled him backhand and walked towards the mountain forest, not forgetting before she did it. He pulled up the very large bearskin mat and said, "There are plenty of dry firewood here. Let's light a fire and warm ourselves up."

"Your Highness, this is the wilderness of the mountains and forests. Although spring is not too cold, it doesn't have to be so?" someone who saw a certain princess's mind said stupidly.

"Oh?" Princess Yongchang sneered and pushed a certain tool aside. She collected a lot of dry firewood and dead leaves, and found a very hidden clearing in the dense forest to pile them up. "I don't know if General Zhou always Why did you ask Ben Gong to wear a princess costume? If you didn't come in a hurry and didn't bring the big makeup, you probably want Ben Gong to change into it too?"

“It doesn’t feel better”

"Not bad!" Princess Yongchang pushed someone down on the bearskin mat and raised a fire. "I also want to change my feelings!"

Forbidden City, Compassionate Palace.

"Come on, don't sit there like that. I asked the imperial kitchen to make your favorite stuffed duck. Why don't you come over and try it." Queen Mother Li Hong had no intention of tabooing food at all. She was holding a bowl. Bijing rice seemed to be full, "It's not like no news has come back. Everything is fine over there now. What are you worried about?"

"My sister-in-law, Kai'er is determined to engage in some kind of 'imperial conquest', why don't you try to persuade him?" Princess Yongjing was so anxious that her red lips looked a little dry, and even the corners of her mouth looked dry. There was a gap, "Not to mention other things, this is the only one left in our big family, just in case anything goes wrong."

"Crow's Mouth." The Queen Mother glared at her and put down the rice helplessly, "Don't I have another one here? Besides, it's not like you don't understand Kai'er's temperament. Since you were a child, you have only wanted to leave a name in history. Now the war in the White Mountains and Black Waters is not going well. There isn't much left. It didn't take long for him to lose his reputation as the Supreme Emperor in the past. What's wrong with that?

Even if it is the affairs of the imperial court, the ministers are still responsible for them. If I can just be in charge, what problems will there be?Now that everyone in the six departments has been sorted out, you can trust them both in terms of ability and loyalty. Moreover, Lord Lin is a good and loyal minister for two dynasties. I only need to give more rewards to your sister Lin. What is there to worry about? ? "

"My sister-in-law, you only think about the government affairs of the court, but don't you think about the military affairs of the capital?" Princess Yongjing is really worried about this, "The Shenji Camp has been taken away a lot by Zi Yang, and also taken away by Kai'er. There are a large number of infantry; most of the combat power of the fifth army camp is not there, plus most of the [-] battalions and most of the Royal Forest Army. Are you really so relieved?"

"That's not bad." The Queen Mother pondered for a moment and then nodded. After thinking for a moment, she looked at her sister-in-law and said, "Now that Kai'er has left with his troops, we can't chase him back. How about this? I'll ask someone to send him off as soon as possible." I have issued a decree to go to Shanhaiguan, and when His Majesty’s army arrives, I will ask Ziyang to bring people back. With him under control, can the capital be still stable?”

"Sister-in-law, you—" Princess Yongjing's expression froze, "Are you even guarding your own family?"

"Damn you, what are you talking about?" The Queen Mother knocked Princess Yongjing angrily, "That's what you said. If someone else is replaced, I will punish him for being 'grudgeful'. Ziyang is just a newly crowned person. Despite his age, he is no longer in the third rank. The war was settled so smoothly this time, and his contribution is not small. No matter what, he must be rewarded with a fifth rank to be able to talk about it.

Even if he is a first-class man, plus he is the commander-in-chief of the third-grade Shenji Battalion, he is one of the few people in the entire court who lacks military honors. He is enough to rank in the top five among the scraps. At his current age, Do you want him to continue to work hard for the family in the future?Or do you want him to be unblockable in the future?When that time comes, the extra credit will have to be dispersed, just in time to give the Zhou family a few more wives. "

"In that case, you should follow the emperor's sister-in-law's instructions." Princess Yongjing's cheeks turned red.

(End of this chapter)