golden scales

The climate characteristic of the Little Ice Age was cold.Drought because of the cold.Due to the drought, the crops are cut off, the locusts are flooding... the whole nature is so closely related, once there is rain, the low temperature is nothing.If what the entire Chongzhen Dynasty needed most, it could only have rain.

Especially in this area of ​​Henan, the original granary in the Central Plains has become desolate due to natural disasters[***], and now it is a happy event to be able to receive a rain.The people of Ruzhou City came out of their homes one after another as if celebrating the New Year, cheering happily in the rain.

On Zhu Cihong's face, there were dark clouds like those in the sky.

This rain is really unfortunate.

There was news from the front that Sun Chuanting was fighting Li Zicheng in the plain. They had been fighting since the military meeting yesterday, and there was no news until now.Tan Ma said that he could hear the sound of cannons more than ten miles away from the battlefield, and he didn't know whether it was the train of Qin soldiers or the artillery of the bandits, and the fighting was very fierce.

The train invented by Sun Chuanting in Qin was specially used to deal with thieves.In Zhu Cihong's view, this kind of car is an artillery with a carriage.There is a small imitation Francophone on the car, and at the same time, the armor and staff of the soldiers can also be placed.Marching on weekdays can be used as the outer barrier of the camp, and it can be used as a barrier when confronting the enemy.Qin Du can have such a great fighting spirit, but also because this kind of train has strong maneuverability and fierce firepower, which has great advantages in the era of cold weapons.

However, when it rains now, the power of the gunpowder is greatly reduced when it gets wet, and the situation of squibs is repeated.The ground is muddy, and the solid bullets of the main battle will sink as soon as they hit the ground, and cannot cause ricochet damage.Although the Ming army had explosive bombs, they were not powerful enough, and they had long been disliked by the frontline soldiers. Only the explosive gas bombs still had some status.

Among the [-] Qin soldiers, there were [-] train soldiers, which shows that trains accounted for a large proportion of Sun Ying.

It is precisely because Sun Chuanting is determined to train this mobile artillery unit that the food tax collected by officials and gentry in Guanzhong has offended many people.Yanjing received memorials crying for help every day claiming that Governor Qin abused the people.Qin officials in Beijing lobbied in many ways, hoping that Emperor Chongzhen could put Sun Chuanting back into the black prison.

Chongzhen really didn't have a supervisor to choose, so he could only urge Sun Chuanting to send troops.Otherwise, the center of Yanjing will be paralyzed because of a Qin governor-officials will run around because of Sun Chuanting, just like some organizations in later generations read newspapers, drink tea and play games when they go to work. Who will work?

"It's really God's trouble with Sun Du!" Seeing the rain getting heavier and heavier, Zhu Cihong couldn't help feeling sorry for Sun Chuanting's fate.

"Your Highness, see you Chen De, a guerrilla in the Henan Department." Someone reported outside the door.

Tian Cunshan has already followed Wu Weiye to Luoyang to continue his old business, taking the blame for the prince.The staff of other attendants also scattered into the neighborhoods, counties, and even large villages and towns in Ruzhou to assist in civil affairs.The Central Military Department is stationed outside Ruzhou City, building earth walls, digging trenches, and arranging trip horses.

This skirmisher battalion was designed to gather the rout of the Qin army.

Zhu Cihong had already expressed his opinion that Sun Chuanting would be defeated without hesitation, which made the officials and gentry in Ruzhou city feel uneasy about their future out of thin air.

Zhu Cihong had already heard that Chen De was the son of Chen Yongfu. He reported to the Ministry of War because he shot Li Zicheng blind in the second Kaifeng offensive and defensive battle.

Everyone hoped that the arrow could penetrate another three to five inches and penetrate Li Thief's head. That would be a real miracle!

"Xuan." Zhu Cihong said in a deep voice.

"Your Highness, do you want to invite Min Zhanlian over first?" the female officer on duty in the corner of the study suddenly asked.

Zhu Cihong had long forgotten that there was still someone on duty here, so excited by the sudden voice, he looked along and saw that the female officer looked familiar, but his name was on his lips but he couldn't pronounce it.He said: "Who would dare to assassinate me in a hurry? There is nothing to be afraid of."

But the female officer was not afraid at all, she insisted against Zhu Cihuang's gaze and said: "Your Highness, as the country's capital, how can you ignore your own safety? It's not that General Chen has evil intentions, it's just that letting his subordinates see His Highness is so careless, it's nothing to add Worried, I will still be distracted by Your Highness on the battlefield in the future."

"A woman's opinion," Zhu Cihong finally called out her name: "Lu Suyao, please avoid it."

It was not easy for Lu Suyao to find an opportunity to go to the front line with the army. It was even more difficult to wait until the East Palace was short of manpower and temporarily become the duty secretary of His Highness the Crown Prince. The most difficult thing was to have the opportunity to let the Crown Prince give her an impression of loyalty and direct advice. ...In the end, all he got was "avoidance".

——The prince still remembers my name, it's okay.

Lu Suyao comforted herself in her heart and had no choice but to retreat.

The servant outside the door has already summoned Chen De, because the Zhen Guo General's Mansion is too cramped, this young guerrilla strode in again, unexpectedly blocking Lu Suyao at the door.

Just when Lu Suyao was feeling unhappy, a wall of armored men suddenly appeared in front of her eyes, and she almost bumped into it by accident.After hastily stopping his steps, he looked up and saw a boy with a round face. His eyebrows seemed to be painted over and over again with a charcoal pencil. They were black and thick, lying flat on his eyes. At the same time, he flicked his sleeves and passed sideways.

Only then did Chen De come back to his senses, his heart beat much faster.Even he himself didn't know if it was because of this beautiful woman, or because the Crown Prince was sitting on it.

"The last general..."

"Chen De," Zhu Cilang interrupted his self-reported name, "how is the front?"

"Yes!" Chen De was interrupted, but his spirit became much clearer, and he said to Lang Lang: "When the final general set out this morning, he heard that Niu Chenghu, the commander-in-chief of the vanguard, had broken through the bandit formation and beheaded the bandit general False Guoyi. General Xie Junyou! Tang Bao should be on the way."

Zhu Cihong relaxed a little.

Chen De thought that the prince was happy when he heard the good news, so he couldn't help grinning too.But he didn't know that Zhu Cihong's good mood was not because Li Zicheng lost a general, but because this 17-year-old general was full of vigor and vitality, in other words, he was a sunny boy.This reminded him of his nephew in his previous life, who was also full of aura and raging prestige.

However, Chen De was afraid that the crown prince would be superior, and he didn't know the weight of the victory, so he was really unceremoniously bright with the help of the crown prince giving him a ray of sunshine: "The thieves stole the title of false generals, and among them, General Quan is the first. There are also four battalions, left, right, front and back, commanded by General Zhi, which is the second class. Under the generals is General Zuo Guoyi, which is the third class. This Xie Junyou is the third class General Zuo Guoyi, which is equivalent to... "

When Chen De said the word "equivalent", his tongue felt like it was tied up, and he couldn't continue.

How can the puppet generals of the rogues be equal to the Huangming official system!

"I know, Deputy Commander." Zhu Cihong took over the conversation kindly: "I also know that he is the commander of the former battalion of the intruders."

Marching and fighting had a sense of secrecy as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty. Jiang Ziya created the "Yin Talisman" to transmit orders, which can be said to be the earliest military code.In the Warring States period, the scope of secrecy was even extended to the commander-in-chief—the battle between Qin and Zhao Changping, and the Qin army had a military order of "beheading those who dare to reveal Lord Wu'an as the general".

However, over the past 3000 years, more generals have not paid much attention to secrecy.In particular, some people care about fame and fortune, but they want to be known to the princes, and they are afraid that others will not know when they conquer a county, so they must publicize their names.So as soon as Zhu Cihong entered Henan, the list and affiliation of the generals under the intruder's command had already been sent to the book case.

Chen De chuckled, his forehead was covered with cold sweat.He heard from his father that the crown prince is not a "easy to get along with" person, and that he is not easy to get along with.Letting a subject make such an evaluation shows how difficult this person is to get along with.But now it seems that His Royal Highness is very approachable, not as airy as those governors.

"I heard that you shot Li Zicheng blind in one eye?" Zhu Cihong asked.

Chen De had already answered this question countless times, and now he answered according to the standard that his father and friend told him: "It's just a fluke." In fact, these words are not just clichés, but facts.

At that time, Chen De was not the only one standing at the top of the city and shooting arrows down the city, there was also a group of people standing side by side, all using long arrows and heavy bows.After a round of volleys, Li Zicheng fell off his horse with an arrow and was rescued by the left and right soldiers.At that time, he didn't even know whether he was alive or dead. How could he know who shot him?It's just because Chen De, the son of the commander-in-chief, has the highest status in this row of archers, so the credit goes to him.

This is also why Chen De has been known as a good shooter since he was a child, so everyone thinks that he probably hit the shot.

In fact, Chen De knew very well that there was a brave archer named Xie San standing beside him at that time, who used a bow as heavy as himself, and his shooting skills were also very good. Thanks to Xie San.

But what does it matter? Anyway, the arrow that hit Li Zicheng didn't have engravings on it, so why do you think it wasn't shot by yourself?At that time, I also aimed at Li thief's forehead.Chen De didn't take it seriously.

"It seems that your archery skills are really good, can you demonstrate?" Zhu Cihong became interested.

Although he wanted to build an all-firearms battalion, the rain in the past two days has extinguished this enthusiasm, and he has to accept the fact that the Ming army will still use archers as the main long-range arm for some time to come.One is that the gunpowder preservation technology is not good enough, and it is easy to get damp.The second is that matchlock guns are basically useless in rainy days. Only after changing to flintlock guns can a large-scale deployment of firearms battalions be considered.

If you can get a general who is good at archery to standardize and standardize the actions of archers, teach them, and train them, it will undoubtedly improve their combat effectiveness faster.

In the guard camp of the Eastern Palace today, the training of the archers is the most headache for Zhu Cihong.The throwing salvo is still a little bit under the unified order, but it is disappointing against the scattering. It is better to use the "swarm of bees" with higher firing efficiency.However, although swarms of bees have a [-]% hit rate, they are also gunpowder-driven bows and arrows, which are also affected by wet weather.

Chen De had all his skills and was not timid. He responded loudly: "Mencius said: 'Don't dare to ask your ears, but insist on your wish'! The same is true for the last general."

"Speak well, why are you planning to take the No. [-] Scholar exam?" Zhu Cihong was amused. (To be continued.)