Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 1222 Postscript 78 · The Princess Who Can Ride a Horse and Shoot a Gun

In the suburbs of a megacity, there are not many farmers who grow staple food.

Most of them grow vegetables, fruits and flowers because they have higher economic value.

Military exercises may trample the land, so nearby farmers harvested their vegetables in advance and received compensation for young crops from the Ministry of War.

There are tents everywhere on the mountains and hills, simulating camping in the wild during war.

The first day of the military exercise is the emperor's visit to the camp.

Xie Yan, either by hand or on horseback, followed the little emperor, patrolled the camp with many guards and dukes, and met with soldiers from each camp to comfort them.

The little emperor's canopy, ceremonial fan and other items were all left outside the military camp.

This is a tradition that has existed since the Taizong Dynasty, that is, when the emperor arrives in the army, everything follows military etiquette and does not play those empty things.

"Greetings, Your Majesty!"

Every time the little emperor arrived outside a military camp, the soldiers in the camp gathered in advance and saluted the emperor in unison.

The military salute is to hold the weapon in the left hand and hold the right fist across the chest.

People of the same rank can salute each other on war horses or chariots. If the subordinate faces the superior, he must dismount and get off the car before saluting.

No one is allowed to kneel.

This is also the military salute established by Emperor Taizong. It was once destroyed and changed to kneeling on one knee to the emperor. It was not until Emperor Dingtai reorganized the army that it was restored.

The young emperor had military experience. At a young age, he was very calm and rode calmly in front of the soldiers.

He rode an underage military horse, and the guards helped to lead it to prevent the horse from going crazy suddenly.

Xie Yan was also observing the imperial guards.

When I read novels before, the imperial guards in the books were all flowery. Whether it was the Song Dynasty or the Ming Dynasty, the imperial guards gradually rotted after a few decades of founding.

But these imperial guards in front of me seem to be quite energetic.

This is of course the result of Emperor Dingtai's reorganization of the army. At that time, the imperial guards had already rotted by more than half.

The main reason is that there has been no war for many years, and most of the imperial guards have never seen blood. Even daily training cannot be guaranteed, and there are only one or two days of training a month. In addition, some people eat empty salaries and drink the blood of soldiers, which leads to very low morale of the army.

Emperor Dingtai telegraphed to recall 4,000 border troops, gave them full military pay, and raised their treatment to the same level as the imperial guards. The loyalty of the 4,000 border troops was instantly full.

The next year, Emperor Dingtai held a large-scale exercise of the imperial guards in the two capitals. The 4,000 fierce border troops directly shocked the 100,000 imperial guards.

The descendants of Zhang Guangdao and other founding nobles, facing the 4,000 border troops, surrendered one after another and did not dare to start a rebellion.

"Long live! Long live!"

The imperial guards shouted in unison, and the little emperor was already excited: These are my troops, the elite troops left to me by my grandfather!

The little emperor suddenly wanted to fight and tried his hand in a country.

He had heard too many stories about Taizu, Taizong and Dingtai Emperor since he was a child. As a child, he had no feeling for benevolent government and love for the people, but he had a deep memory of his ancestors' repeated battles and defeats of the enemy.

This year is the annual rotation drill, and only 10,000 troops participated in the Luoyang military exercise.

After the little emperor finished camping, the 10,000 imperial guards were divided into two armies, each continuing to build fortifications.

Army A built simple small defensive fortifications, which were a bit like bastions.

Army B dug Z-shaped trenches and dug in.

The next day, the battle officially started.

Xie Yan stood on the hillside with the princes of different surnames, using a telescope to observe the offensive and defensive battles of the imperial guards.

There were constant gunshots and gunpowder everywhere.

The warheads of the paper shell fixed ammunition were replaced with cork bullets, and the amount of gunpowder was very small, which was simply a blank bullet.

Even the thunder bombs with little power were used, and grenades were thrown around.

Xie Yan didn't understand it either, he just knew that the fight was quite lively. Playing the role of the attacking side of the Ming army, they naturally won the final victory.

After the attack and defense in the morning, the battle was fought in formation in the afternoon.

And there is also the firearm version of the mandarin duck formation with the characteristics of the Ming Dynasty. This is a reserved project. We must not forget the great martial arts of Emperor Taizong.

Some cold weapon troops are also retained to deal with weather that is not conducive to firearms. There are not many cold weapon troops participating in the military exercise, only a few hundred to a few hundred, but the viewing is full. This thing is fierce when it is fought.

On the third day, there was a cavalry battle, as well as a personal martial arts competition and display.

Horseback archery, spearmanship, gunmanship, artillery... took turns to perform, and Xie Yan called it wonderful.

There were also more than 20 outstanding military academy students who were also selected to demonstrate military skills. Xie Yan saw Yang Boyan among those students.

"Who is that man?" The little emperor pointed at Yang Boyan and asked.

When the people around were about to ask, Xie Yan said, "Your Majesty, his name is Yang Boyan, a descendant of Yang Zaixing, the founding county lord."

The little emperor praised, "He is indeed the descendant of a founding general!"

There was no way, Yang Boyan's performance was too eye-catching just now.

All those who were selected to participate in the drill were top students in the military academy, and Yang Boyan completely crushed the other twenty or so students in riding and shooting, horse fighting, and foot fighting. Even if he was standing and firing a musket, he could rank among the top five among those students.

Empress Dowager Ye suddenly asked, "Liu Lang knows this Yang Boyan?"

"When I took the train to Beijing, I talked to the descendant of this fierce general for a few words." Xie Yan roughly told the story.

Empress Dowager Ye nodded in approval: "After graduating from the military academy, such a brave general should be sent to a border town for training. Although the barbarians in the forests around Beihai have long since submitted to the Ming Dynasty, they always go south to plunder sporadically. There are also the Karluks in the mountainous areas of the Qihe border, and the Yellow-headed Shiwei in the mountains of northern Andong... They are all not very worrying."

The vast Ming Dynasty naturally had more troubles than the Queen Mother Ye mentioned.

For example, the Qihe Protectorate's jurisdiction extends from the west of the Ili Valley to the north of the Aral Sea, stretching 1,400 kilometers from east to west. The core of Ming Dynasty's rule there relied entirely on more than 20 large and small cities and military fortresses at key nodes.

The further away from cities and fortresses, the weaker the Ming Dynasty's ruling foundation. Like Mobei and Tubo, it belongs to tribal autonomy. However, those tribal leaders and religious leaders must be recognized by the Ming court, and must pay tribute to the Protectorate on a regular basis.

From time to time, there were tribal rebellions.

The difference is that the tribes in Qihe are dominated by desert religion, the tribes in Tubo are dominated by Buddhism, and the tribes in Mobei are dominated by Nestorianism and Shamanism.

The capital city of the Qihe Protectorate was the Hu Si O'er Er left by Yelu Dashi - more than a hundred miles east of the capital of Kyrgyzstan in later generations.

Now the entire basin, as well as the surrounding mountains and grasslands, have been renamed "Chuhe Mansion".

And Husi You'er was renamed "Broken Leaf City"!

In the entire Chuhe Basin, the Han population has exceeded 60%. They also include mixed-race descendants of the Han people, as well as the Khitan, Uighur, and Turkic people who were assimilated into the Han people.

The further west you go, the smaller the proportion of Han people.

…

On the fifth day of the military exercise, it became more entertaining.

The soldiers were divided into large groups and small groups, and drove the prey around the mountains and forests according to military orders, so that the powerful could hunt the wild beasts.

Even the sassy eldest sister Wu Lingfeng came to join in the fun with her father and father-in-law.

Yuan Huaiyi, who joined the cabinet as a military general, personally taught the young emperor how to use a firecracker: "First bite open the cartridge case, shake a little gunpowder into the primer plate, and then insert the paper shell bullet into the barrel like this..."

The little emperor was very excited. This year he was one year older. He was allowed to swim in the summer and use fire guns in the autumn.

Xie Yan also followed suit.

Check out the 16-9 book bar and see the correct version!

The flintlocks used by the two men are works of art, inlaid with gold, silver and even precious stones. This kind of musket made by skilled craftsmen is almost impossible to explode unless it is used too many times.

Of course, the paper-shell bullets that the little emperor received had less gunpowder and were not very powerful.

He learned to fire a few shots, and the more he fired, the happier he became.

A bugle suddenly sounded, and the deer were being driven here.

The generals and guards came forward to protect the little emperor.

Bang!

The little emperor shot empty-handed.

The two guards bent their bows and nocked arrows, and shot at a frightened deer at the same time. The poor elk was hit by two arrows, but neither of them had any vital damage. It tried to escape but was driven back by soldiers further away.

"Your Majesty, aim at the injured one, it can't run fast anymore."

The little emperor actually didn't want others to help, but he also knew that he was a beginner and had to do this if his skills were not good.

Bang!

Another shot, and the bullet flew two feet past the injured elk.

Still hit it crookedly.

The elk fled again and were soon driven back by the soldiers.

The guards and generals protected the little emperor and pretended to chase the prey. They ran very slowly for fear that the little emperor would fall from his horse.

Queen Mother Ye observed from a distance, with a slight smile on her face.

She enjoys watching her son continue to improve.

Bang!

The elk, which could not run due to excessive blood loss, was finally shot down by the little emperor.

The little emperor jumped off his horse, ran to the elk and shouted cheeringly: "I hit it, I hit a prey!"

"Your Majesty's power!"

The generals and guards congratulated in unison.

The little emperor asked the guards to bring the prey, and he ran back on horseback: "Little uncle, I have hunted a deer. You are also new to learning firecrackers, go and try it."

"According to the order!" Xie Yan rode forward cautiously.

Although Xie Yan ran away, the emperor's words of "little uncle" were remembered by many civil and military officials.

Your Majesty is very close to Consort Xie!

Zhu Tangxi chased after him on horseback and got a flintlock gun from nowhere.

Xie Yan asked: "Sister, can you also fire a gun?"

"When did I say that I didn't know how to do it?" Zhu Tangxi said proudly, "My gun skills were taught by my father himself! But I haven't hunted much in the past few years, and I don't know if I can still aim accurately. Drive!"

Xie Yan hurriedly rode to catch up. Although the hillside was gentle, his equestrian skills were too poor to dare to ride fast.

"Woooooo~~~"

The horn sounded again, and this time it was a few wild boars that were driven over.

The wild boars began to flee, but the sound of gongs in the distance drove them towards the direction planned by the army.

Wu Lingfeng and his wife followed them at some point.

Although her husband came from a noble family, he was more like a scholar than a scholar, and he was submissive in front of her. He looked like a henpecked man at first glance.

"Princess, Prince Consort, you come first." Wu Lingfeng said.

The horse was heaving up and down, so Xie Yan had no choice but to dismount first. He also felt that the place where the wild boar stopped was too far away, so he bent down and tiptoed closer.

"Bang!"

Just then, a gunshot rang out.

Zhu Tangxi was in another place in Xili, riding on horseback and shooting, accurately hitting the wild boar's waist.

The wild boar was in pain and ran wildly, and several hunting dogs rushed to catch it.

Xie Yan turned around and praised: "Sister is so amazing!"

Zhu Tangxi held his head high, put his flintlock gun on his shoulder, and said with a proud smile: "In the past, I would have been able to hit the wild boar in the head."

Xie Yan only cared about admiring the beauty.

Today's princess is so beautiful, wearing a hunting outfit, her long legs are particularly attractive. And she carries a musket on her shoulder, and her heroic appearance is another style.

Of course, Wu Lingfeng is even more awesome, she uses a bow and arrow directly, and shoots arrows while riding a horse at full speed.

Xie Yan likes this sport. Whether he can catch prey is secondary. The key is to have a beautiful lady who is pleasing to the eye.