Follow Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the country

Chapter 79 Strengthening the Internal Guard, Zhu Yuanzhang’s Military Talent

Zhang Cheng was quite speechless because of this, and said: "It's just a pick, and you have to compete no matter what. Can't you do it according to your ability?"

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was walking back, also saw this scene, and his face darkened: "You guys are really not helping me!"

These few people had no choice but to plead guilty, and then in disgrace they began to pick away the soil that fell on the ground in batches.

Li Menggeng just blamed Guo Jingxiang for being too ambitious and insisting on making so many mistakes, which made him have to increase the pressure.

Guo Jingxiang blamed Li Menggeng for insisting on overtaking him in picking up dirt, so he fell down, causing him to lose his balance when turning around.

Zhang Mian naturally blamed Guo Jingxiang for knocking him down.

Feng Guoyong glared at Zhang Mian.

Li Shanchang kept gouging out Feng Guoyong with his eyes.

Here, Zhang Cheng and Zhu Yuanzhang carried the soil across the pontoon bridge to the other side of the river. With the setting sun on their backs, they poured the soil into the designated area.

Zhang Cheng and Zhu Yuanzhang, both in their twenties, worked very energetically, and soon they were sweating profusely.

Simultaneously.

Zhang Cheng also began to say to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Your Majesty, Hu Yuan is now stepping up his campaign to suppress Zhang Shicheng. The troops are very aggressive. News has come that many small groups of rebels have been wiped out. News has also come from the direction of Liuhe that Yuan soldiers are dispatched in large numbers. We don’t have much time to steadily accumulate strength, so now we have to hurry up and develop and strengthen ourselves to avoid being wiped out in the future.”

"Having said that."

"But training troops is not an easy task, especially for horse soldiers and archers. You cannot train them well overnight. If you don't train them well, you may not be able to fight against the Yuan soldiers who are truly well-trained."

"As you said, we rebels still have a lot to learn. Even we are still learning from Miao Daheng and others how to form troops."

Zhu Yuanzhang held the basket filled with soil, put his hands on his hips, and then looked at Zhang Cheng.

Zhang Cheng nodded, letting the river wind blow his hair on his forehead, and said:
  "It does take a lot of time to train a qualified horse army and archers. Not to mention training horse soldiers and archers, just increasing the number of horses and archers is very difficult."

talking.

Zhang Cheng also looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and said: "So, what I am thinking is, can we try to make more fire guns and train more fire gun players?"

"In any case, making fire guns requires fewer types of materials than making bows and arrows, and the processes are also much fewer."

"Besides, it takes faster time to make fire guns than bows and arrows."

"Furthermore, it is easier for people to master fire guns proficiently than to master bows and arrows, and fire guns also have long-range strike effects."

Zhang Cheng said.

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "But the fire blunderbuss can't shoot far, igniting the gunpowder is very troublesome, and the blunderbuss tube can easily blow up one's own people."

Zhang Cheng said: "We can think of ways to improve the quality of the gun tubes. In addition, we can have higher military discipline requirements for the fire gunmen. They must wait for the enemy to get closer before firing. We can also add a row of shield hands to them to help them." Resist the enemy's long-range attacks, and then have the courage to put the enemy into the fight."

"As for the trouble of igniting gunpowder, we can also set up a few more rows of gunmen, at least three rows!"

"When the first row has finished firing, the second row is ready and can directly take over the launch. At this time, the third row has begun to prepare. When the second row has finished firing, it can also take over to launch, achieving alternate and continuous launches. Effect."

After Zhu Yuanzhang heard what Zhang Cheng said, he was quite moved, but he did not agree immediately, but only thought about it seriously.

after awhile.

Zhu Yuanzhang still couldn't help but shook his head and said: "It seems that the training requirements are not low. A person who can face a large number of enemy archers can stabilize his mentality. When the enemy is close, they can launch together and they will not collapse." A fire gunner cannot be trained overnight."

"If in addition to the archers, the enemy army also has a powerful horse army sweeping in, cruising and scattering, the fire gunmen can still remain calm when facing such a situation. I'm afraid it will be even harder! It will require more training and actual combat. Only those who have been around for a long time can do it, and they must try to be honest but dare to risk their lives when pressed."

Zhu Yuanzhang continued talking, and looked at the migrant workers in front who were working hard to dredge the river and said, "Does such a fire gun camp really exist?"

"I believe there will be."

Zhang Cheng replied seriously.

Simultaneously.

Zhang Cheng couldn't help but secretly sigh that Zhu Yuanzhang was indeed very talented in the military. At this time, he put forward very insightful opinions on his suggestions for developing firearms.

Therefore, Zhang Cheng had to rack his brains to think of some reasons that could persuade Zhu Yuanzhang to agree to vigorously develop firearms, and said:

"However, what the superiors said is that with the current level of fire gunmen, there are higher requirements for fire gunmen. This means that training an excellent fire gunman is no more difficult than training archers and horsemen. Low."

"But in any case, it is indeed easier to make fire guns than bows and arrows, and it is also easier for the rebel brothers, who are mainly southerners, to master the essentials."

"So, how about just training a group of fire gunmen to take charge of the internal defense?"

"When suppressing bandits internally and arresting thieves, we won't encounter large-scale cavalry and archers. At most, they will be militia groups resisting taxation and bandits robbing merchants. Therefore, the soldiers of the Guards Department, the Taxation Department, and the city defense are completely You can use firecrackers first instead of sending a large number of horse troops and archers to take charge of the internal defense."

"In this way, the horse troops and archers can be concentrated as much as possible to participate in foreign wars!"

"Now, the pressure on Chuzhou City's internal defense is also increasing. After all, the population is increasing and it is becoming more and more eye-catching. It also needs to strengthen the internal defense force."

After Zhang Cheng said this, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "This is a way. We can let the sergeants of the inner guard mainly use firecrackers, gather the archers and horse troops, and prepare to deal with foreign enemies."

"But we don't have so much time to find craftsmen to make fire guns and train fire gun soldiers."

"Now just learning to train infantry and bow troops and cavalry formations is already very energy-consuming for us. Even Miao Daheng and the others don't have so much energy. What's more, they have to teach Hua Yun, Tang and others in the military academy. Soldier matters."

Zhu Yuanzhang picked up the empty basket and walked back while continuing to talk to Zhang Cheng.

Zhang Cheng walked beside him and said, "Then let me do it!"

"It's just to train fire gunmen to maintain order internally. It doesn't require you to be very good at fighting, and you don't need too many fire gunmen. Now you only need to have three to five hundred fire gunmen who can suppress bandits and suppress the disobedient at any time. "That's okay. The governor of a state also has the responsibility of knowing the military. Besides, he is just an internal guard anyway, so he doesn't need to be very good at fighting."

"But there aren't that many guns right now."

Zhu Yuanzhang said.

Zhang Cheng said: "If it's not enough, build an ordnance factory to make it! There just happen to be many craftsmen in Chuzhou City, and we can let them make firecrackers. In addition, we can also let them make some farm tools."

"farm tools?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked curiously, then came to the mound and dug soil into the soil basket.

"That's right!"

Zhang Cheng stopped by the mound and dug up the soil as well.

"Right now, Li Shanchang and others have begun to divide the wasteland and ownerless wasteland owned by local big landowners such as Li, Guo, Ren, etc. into the people. However, these people who have been allocated new fields are currently short of farm tools. .”

"Some only have sickles but no hoes, and some only have hoes but no plowshares. We should also let them set up agricultural mutual aid societies, so that they can borrow agricultural tools that each other does not have for farming."

"In addition, our government can also distribute agricultural tools to these communities based on what agricultural tools they still lack after comprehensive analysis, so as to resume farming as soon as possible and ensure that the first spring plowing next year can proceed smoothly."

After Zhang Cheng said this, Zhu Yuanzhang agreed very much: "Mr. Zhang is very serious, this is an important matter!"

"It's hard to think of a way to set up a mutual aid cooperative. First, let the villagers help each other to form a cooperative, and then according to the situation of each cooperative, it is better to distribute farm tools to them. It is better than directly distributing farm tools. In this way, it is indeed necessary to set up a factory to smelt iron. Guns, farm tools, and all kinds of swords, guns, and arrows can’t just be snatched from Yuan soldiers.”

"That's right, in the future we can also sell some of the equipment we made and make some money."

"Another advantage is that more people can solve their livelihood problems by entering the factory."

"Nowadays, the new population in Chuzhou City is more than the existing land. There will definitely not be enough land by then. Especially after the project of dredging the river is completed, and not all of them can be recruited into the army, it is natural to build factories so that some people can earn money through work. Survive."

Zhang Cheng continued to explain the significance of building a factory.

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "You are the governor of the state, so it is up to you to do these things."

"it is good!"

Zhu Yuanzhang then asked: "You just said that the pressure on the inner guards is increasing. We think you are right. The number of refugees dredging the rivers now is nearly 100,000. It reminds us of the old incident of Hu Yuan repairing the Yellow River. This should be prevented." Something unexpected happened.”

"Yes."

"Right now, these migrant workers are just refugees recruited by officials sent out by the Zhizhou Yamen. The organization is still relatively loose. Management and prevention need to be strengthened to prevent people with crooked ways from inciting people to do bad things."

"We should organize the poor people we recruit as officials to manage the people as soon as possible, and organize them into societies and establish capitals."

Zhang Cheng replied.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but sighed: "How many talents are needed to be an official?"

Zhang Cheng said: "We still need more talents, not just people to manage the people. After we set up factories, we will also need many technical talents."

"Talent!"

Zhu Yuanzhang murmured to himself and started to stir up trouble again.

"Right now, in addition to publishing recruitment notices, we have also sent special envoys to recruit celebrities nearby."

"As for the celebrity worth hiring nearby, it is Wang Guangyang who lives temporarily in this area."

Zhang Cheng also picked up a basket filled with soil and followed him, saying a few words.

"Wang Guangyang?"

Zhu Yuanzhang read out curiously.

And at this time.

Wang Guangyang also happened to arrive in Chuzhou City, and when he came to the construction site of Chuzhou City, he saw Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhang Cheng and others picking up soil.

"Are they really Mr. Zhu and Mr. Zhou Muzhang?"

Wang Guangyang also recognized Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhang Cheng under the guidance of a migrant worker, and therefore asked a confirming question.

"Of course!"

"Who else would be guarded by so many soldiers?"

The migrant worker replied.

"So young!"

Wang Guangyang sighed, and then watched in silence the scene where Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhang Cheng were arguing.

Suddenly.

Wang Guangyang saw Li Shanchang, Feng Guoyong, Zhang Mian and other scribes also making trouble.

In the end, Wang Guangyang couldn't help but sigh: "The leader of this rebel army is indeed different. Not only is he willing to use work-for-relief methods to help the people, but he is also willing to personally participate in water conservancy and reclamation. He is really respectable. Pei, I should join!"

talking.

Wang Guangyang told his servant: "Go to the city and find an inn to stay for a long time. Don't go back to Taiping!"

(End of this chapter)