open sea

Chapter 1113 Climate

"It's useless, you can't fight in winter, no matter how thick you wear it, it's useless."

In the military room, the emperor and Xu Guangqi sat on the blankets. The ground dragon in the palace was very warm. The emperor changed into a brown suit and shrugged his feet in felt socks and said, "The next marching route is Chaha. Your Qingping Town."

Qingping Town was the name changed when Lanyu attacked the Northern Yuan Dynasty. It was called Yingchang in the Yuan Dynasty. It was located at the southern end of the Daxingan Mountains, on the banks of the Xiliao River.

"If the weather was warm, Qingping Town would not be a problem. The army would have surrendered when they passed by. But now that it's cold today, Qi Shuai couldn't persuade them to surrender. The army was already freezing halfway, so they had to return to Daning."

The emperor curled his lips and said: "The herdsmen of the Wulianghai tribe said that no matter how thick the clothes are over there in winter, people will freeze to death if they march outside."

"Especially now, it's getting colder every year."

Xu Guangqi took it for granted, nodded in agreement and said, "When I was a child, it only snowed in Songjiang for two or three days. The year before last, it snowed for half a month. It was too cold to go out."

"However, this year His Majesty has prepared such thick eastern clothes for the troops going out of the Fortress. They must be warmer than the frontier soldiers in the Fortress."

Wanli likes to be complimented, especially when he thinks he has done something worthy of being praised, so he smiles with satisfaction, but this smile only lasts for a moment.

He shook his head and said, "I can't distribute winter clothes like that to the whole army. I will send nearly [-] soldiers and horses out of the customs this year. Qi Shuai's four battalions will lead the battle, and the remaining [-] soldiers will be conscripted from the Beijing army and seven guards." Building roads and transporting luggage, the food in the front is gone before the food in the back is delivered."

"Before, I purchased more than [-] sets of winter clothes, which were just enough for Qi Commander's Department to wear. Many of the guards behind were unable to prepare for winter. The Ministry of War was able to purchase, but they could only prepare a padded jacket for the guards."

"I was not prepared enough."

The emperor was a little annoyed, he always felt that he was wise and powerful, and he could put any good words on himself, but this time the situation of going out of the fortress really made him uncomfortable: "And I can't blame the Ministry of War, it's very annoying. "

The Ministry of War has considered everything well, but it has not considered that the emperor is not only thinking about conquest, but actual occupation.

This war is different from the past, and the form of war has been fundamentally changed.

Since Tumubao, the Ming Dynasty had no choice but to choose passive defense against the northern captives under the circumstances of successive years of disasters and financial deficits. It was not until Emperor Longqing that it turned to a posture of active defense. In fact, it was not until the Wanli Dynasty that it was truly saved. Enough money, you can fight a battle of active defense.

In the past, it was to defend the enemy within the border, but now it is to defend the enemy outside the border. Qi Jiguang was asked to go outside the customs to recover the three guards of Wuliangha, and he fought very well... But according to the script prepared by the Ministry of War before the war, Marshal Qi will It should have led the army to enter the customs triumphantly.

But the emperor must continue to fight, and must let Qi Jiguang be stationed in Daning City.

In the words of the official document of the Ministry of War, this is twice the casualties of the army, and the consumption of the army is ten times that of before.

Casualties are negligible. Qi Jiguang led the army from the south to the north. There were many confrontations and few battles. The total casualties were less than a hundred, and even if doubled, it would be less than two hundred. The emperor can bear it, but the consumption is ten times, who can bear it? live?

According to the original estimate of the Ministry of War, there is no need for the Qi family army to be stationed in Daning City in winter. Now that the three guards of Wuliangha have recovered, let them garrison outside the pass. You can easily solve them by exiting the level again.

Although this may not necessarily bring benefits, more than half of the expenses will be burned. When Qi's army enters the customs, naturally more than 3 supply teams will not be needed. Without a supply team, there is no need to spend on food, let alone road consumption.

It is said in the military book that the best way to transport supplies is to eat and fight the enemy, but without war and newly defeated enemies, it is no problem to eat for one or two days, ten or eight days, and it is impossible to eat for a whole winter. Submit to Ming's tribe.

What's more, Wanli doesn't think that Qi Jiguang's troops have the ability to attack in winter. Like the set of cotton iron armor he prepared, only 2000 or [-] of them were sent to Daning City in a complete set, while the Qi's army in the past did not wear any The warmest duck-down fat jacket is only cotton-padded jacket.

As for the Banner Army, which is mainly in charge of transportation, the cotton clothes are even simpler.

"But we still have some advantages after all. The cotton-padded clothes of the barbarians are not as good as our soldiers and horses. It is very important that we can leave at least one month earlier than they expected next year."

As he said that, the emperor raised his hand in front of him and said seriously: "But right now, I have come to ask you for something more important, and I want you to do it."

Without further ado, Xu Guangqi got up and saluted, and said: "Please give orders, Your Majesty, I will definitely do it well."

Wanli smiled, waved him to sit down, and asked: "Don't be so nervous, it's not a big deal. I heard that you messed up the two Huode Xingjun in Tsinghua Garden and installed one on the bird boat?"

"Yes." Xu Guangqi's expression was very excited, and he even moved his body forward, saying: "I didn't install the second one, but I just made a slight improvement on the original steamer of the bird boat and installed the second one." A cylinder, making it reciprocate one left and one right."

Xu Guangqi raised three fingers to the emperor and said, "The speed of the boat is [-]% faster, Your Majesty."

In fact, the emperor didn't quite understand what it meant to install two cylinders. He was used to seeing Mr. Huode Xing as a living thing, and it would be more powerful if he didn't connect another person's arms to this person.

"When the matter of King Baoding is finished, I will go to see it in person, but right now, there are two things that are more important than the boat."

No matter how important the steamship was, the emperor did not intend to use it before taking over the imperial coal mine franchise. As long as it was not used, it was the emperor's own gadget on the lake in front of Tsinghua University. Fifty miles an hour, it doesn't make much difference to him.

Anyway, if he was in the boat, he wouldn't feel anything; if he was in the water, he couldn't catch it no matter how hard he swam.

"I plan to find King Baoding and take back his farmland and rent it out. It won't be in vain... The land belongs to me, but if you use his land, you will pay him the rent."

Xu Guangqi was still happy before, thinking that when the emperor went to Tsinghua Garden to see his achievements, he would definitely appreciate him greatly, but then he was stunned: "Small, my minister? Your Majesty, the minister even rented a house in the capital." I don’t have any money, so what can I give to King Baoding?”

"I will give you, I have money."

The emperor told Xu Guangqi seriously that he was rich, and said: "You want to open two factories, one is a canning factory, to prepare military rations for Qi Shuai's expedition next year; Iron wheels."

"You will keep these two factories for me first, and when the time is right, I will stamp your seal on you."

It seemed that Xu Guangqi didn't even need to ask questions, the emperor already knew what he was going to say, waved his hand and said: "You can't let the court do it, no matter who comes, they will be greedy, you can't use the bureaucratic tricks, at least not before it becomes a climate. "

(End of this chapter)