My life skills in Daming Liver

In the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing, Zhao Wenhua, a core member of the strict party, wrote a letter to impeach Li Mo, Minister of the Ministry of Officials.

The reason for impeachment is that the topic of Li Mo's policy test for selecting candidates in the Ministry of Officials was: "Han Wu conquered the barbarians, but the domestic waste was wasted; Tang Zong attacked Huai Cai, but the late career would not end."

After seeing this topic, Emperor Jiajing was furious, thinking that Li Mo was attacking his military policy, dismissed Li Mo from the position of Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and sent him to prison for punishment. Li Mo died in prison a few days later.

The struggle between the two parties became more intense, and the two parties fought fiercely for the vacated post of Minister of the Ministry of Officials.

As a result, Emperor Jiajing once again used his "imperial art" and ordered Li Ben, a cabinet scholar who was inclined to Qingliu, to concurrently serve as Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and the struggle between the government and the opposition was temporarily subsided.

However, the aftermath of the struggle between the two parties spread, and the fierce battle was only suppressed temporarily.

At this time on Jingjiang Island, Su Ze was playing chess with Wang Xijue.

Wang Xijue's chess skills were not as good as Li Zhi's. Under Su Ze's Lv5 chess skills, he was thrown away by Su Ze's nerve-knife chess style.

Wang Xijue saw that his chess eyes were blocked, and the entire upper right corner was eaten up. He conceded defeat and said, "Ru Lin, can you stop pulling me to play chess, I haven't won these days."

Su Ze laughed, threw away the pieces and said, "Then this sentence is considered a draw!"

Wang Xijue smiled bitterly, put away the chess pieces and said, "Brother Su, you have thought about it, you really don't want silk, but my Wang family's ten sand ships that transport silk?"

Su Ze nodded and said, "Of course, since it's settled, there's no reason to go back on it!"

It turned out that after Su Ze agreed to escort the Wang family's silk ship back to Shanghai County, he quickly changed his mind after seeing the Wang family's fleet.

What the Wang family used to transport silk was the "sand boat" that sailed in the inland rivers of the Jiangnan area.

This kind of ship has a large cabin and a strong deck, which is better than the Yong ship in the Yangtze River.

The most important thing is that this is a dual-purpose boat powered by sails and oars. In the case of headwind or no wind, the oars on both sides can also be rowed, which is very practical when fighting on the river.

Su Ze took a fancy to the ten sand boats of the Wang family at a glance, and proposed to Wang Xijue not to want one-tenth of the silk on the Wang family's ships, but only the ten ships of the Wang family.

Wang Xijue naturally agreed.

Su Ze sent fifty soldiers to escort the Wang family's fleet back to Shanghai. Wang Xijue did not follow the fleet back, but stayed with Su Ze to help him plan the logistics.

Su Ze had to admit that Wang Xijue, who was able to serve as the chief assistant of the cabinet in later generations, was born to do logistics.

When Wang Xijue took over the logistics work, he quickly got along with Li County Magistrate, and the cooperation with Jingjiang was very smooth.

He was very fair when distributing military supplies, and he was always able to quickly resolve disputes in the barracks. Soon the entire army was very convinced of his ability and supported his distribution plan.

Under Wang Xijue's preparation, Su Ze did not continue to be stationed in Jingjiang County, but built a barracks in the fishing village of Gushan Town.

Su Ze recruited 50 young and strong people who had a deep hatred for Japanese pirates on the island, added them to the barracks to train together, and formulated a daily training program for patrolling the island. There are more than 30 Japanese pirates.

At the end of the game between the two, Lin Deyang hurried into the big tent and informed Su Ze of the news that the Japanese invaded Jiangdu County and the Changping Warehouse outside Yangzhou City was on fire.

"What!? Changping Warehouse fire? Twenty thousand grains burned?"

The pawn in Wang Xijue's hand fell to the ground, and he said indignantly: "How did these water transport officials work! Mediocre people are wronging the country!"

What is the concept of 20,000 deniers of grain? The current price of rice is two taels of silver per meter.

This was another huge blow to the Ming Dynasty, which was suffering even worse.

Wang Xijue said: "This year, the price of grain in the south of the Yangtze River will rise again, and I am afraid there will be another famine."

Su Ze asked: "There will also be famine in the south of the Yangtze River?"

Wang Xijue sighed and said, "Ru Lin doesn't know that although Jiangnan is known as a land of fish and rice, in fact, Jiangnan doesn't produce much food now."

"Why?"

"Because growing grain doesn't make money. You only earn a little money growing grain in the south of the Yangtze River. The price of rice has not risen for many years. Not to mention the tenants renting other people's land, it is our own land of the Wang family. If it is used to grow grain It’s also a loss.”

"The land in our Jiangnan area is either planted with cotton or mulberry trees. In recent years, we have not grown grain."

Su Ze understood what Wang Xijue meant. Jiangnan's economy is more developed. Unlike Fujian, Jiangnan has already formed a market with silver as the main currency.

Later, when Zhang Juzheng reformed, he was the first to implement tax conversion in Nanzhili. In fact, during the Jiajing period, many miscellaneous taxes in Jiangnan had already been converted into silver and handed over.

But we are a silver-poor country, and we have been short of silver for a long time. In this situation of currency shortage, the income from farming is too low, and the well-developed silk and cotton textile industry in the south of the Yangtze River is too profitable, so the Jiangnan area used to be the land of fish and rice, the granary of the world. , no longer grow food.

The Tongzhou Prefecture, Taizhou Prefecture, and Yangzhou Prefecture, which were ravaged by Japanese pirates, have become the most important grain-producing areas in the entire South Zhili.

As it is now, not to mention that this year's summer and autumn grains are definitely not harvested. The 20,000 deniers of grain that were supposed to be transported to the capital are gone.

Now there must be less grain in Nanzhili, and the result is that grain prices will definitely rise.

As soon as Wang Xijue finished speaking, Jingjiang Li County Magistrate walked into the barracks.

"Su regiment training envoy, the granary in Yangzhou is on fire, I am going to recruit refugees to open fields in Jingjiang, what do you think?"

Sure enough, there were still smart people in the Ming Dynasty. As soon as Li County Magistrate heard the news, he grasped the key issue of food. He said to Su Ze: "As long as you play the banner of the regiment training envoy, many refugees around will come to Jingjiang."

Su Ze also nodded and said, "In this case, I will also open up the military camp near Gushan Town."

After sending off County Magistrate Li, Su Ze heard the familiar voice again.

"Mr. Zhuowu, why did you come to Jingjiang?"

Seeing the dusty Li Zhi, Su Ze hastily greeted him, didn't he ask him to take charge of the logistics in the camp of the Anti-Japanese Anti-Smuggling Team in Shanghai County? Why did he come to Jingjiang?

Li Zhi was still following Xu Shixing, he said with a smile, "I'm here to deliver good things to Ru Lin!"

"What good stuff?"

Li Zhi pulled Su Ze to the pier and said, "I came with the sandboat of the Wang family. A few days ago, the Wang family had settled the customs duties and left the sandboat to us."

"It happened that my brother-in-law brought this stuff, so I personally escorted it by boat."

Su Ze followed Li Zhi to the pier, and when he saw the cannon on the bow of the sand boat, he exclaimed, "Flang cannon? Where did this come from?"

Li Zhi said: "Didn't you ask your brother-in-law to collect Western firearms last time? My brother-in-law asked for help. These are Japanese pirates' firearms seized in Zhejiang, but no one in Zhejiang knows how to use them, so they were taken by the Chaoguan Department."

"I once heard you talk about the power of the Franc machine guns. After getting these two guns, I immediately escorted them here."

Su Ze boarded the sandboat, checked the two Franco cannons, and saw the Portuguese inscriptions on the cannons, so he knew that the Japanese pirates bought them from the Portuguese.

The wear of the cannon body is not serious, and the barrel is not cracked. Judging from the inscription, this cannon has not been on the scene for a long time. It is estimated that it was captured by the Ming army after only a few times of use.

"When Mr. Yangming quelled the Chenhao Rebellion, he forged the Folang cannon. Why didn't the Zhejiang Ming army know how to use it?"

Li Zhi sighed and said, "When did the Chenhao Rebellion happen? How has the imperial guardhouse been corrupted over the years? If it was still the same as it was when Mr. Yangming was here, the Japanese Rebellion would have been quelled long ago."

Su Ze thought for a while, and it seems that this is indeed the case. How far has the fighting power of the Ming Dynasty's officers and soldiers reached now? Even the most common military drills and the knowledge of setting up camps have become the "secrets" of the general family. The guard cherishes military technology and refuses to communicate and learn. Many things are lost when the family "inherits".

Just like the original Changning Guard, for the past seven generations, it has relied on a military training manual from the early days of the country. This is because the hundreds of families of Changning Guard have carefully trained soldiers in the past, so that this set of manuals can be completely passed down.

The former Lin Baihu used to go to other guards to compete with each other, but they were all stopped by the other party's "family learning should not be passed on".

In addition, the Ming army also developed an exaggerated training style of "fighting and killing tricks".

The so-called tricks are similar to the tricks in modern martial arts. In the military books of the Song Dynasty, it has been strictly forbidden to practice in the army, and it is strictly forbidden to use it on the battlefield.

The reason is of course very simple. The battlefield is a place where life is fought. If you use a set of sword skills in front of the battle, you will be shot into a hedgehog by the opponent's archer before you dance the sword well.

The practice of mandarin duck formation is very simple. The knife and ax hand only need to practice the action of cutting people, and the shield hand only needs to practice blocking.

Qi Jiguang repeatedly emphasized in "Ji Xiao's New Book" that soldiers are not allowed to use various "tricks" on the battlefield, and even the so-called "odd weapons" are prohibited from being used on the battlefield.

This kind of truth, which has been discriminated and understood in the military books of the Tang and Song Dynasties, was revived in the military camps of the Ming Dynasty. The reason is the fault of military technology. A kind of "trick and secret trick".

As early as the Zhengde period, the Ming Dynasty was able to cast the Flang cannon by itself, and it was also used by Wang Yangming to quell the Nanchang Rebellion.

But decades have passed, and Zhejiang has seized the Frang machine gun and can't use it.

Su Ze still accepted the two Flang machine guns with a smile. Fang Wanghai attached great importance to these two guns, and bought gunpowder and projectiles from Nanjing, and gave them to Su Ze.

Su Ze looked at the deck of the sand ship again. The wood used by the Wang family's ships was very strong. Su Ze immediately ordered the craftsmen in the army to board the ship, trying to fix the Frang machine gun on the sand ship.

After Li Zhi delivered the sand boat and artillery, he returned to Shanghai with the Yong boat, while Xu Shixing stayed in Jingjiang to watch Su Ze's military training.

Xu Shixing also said to Su Ze generously:

"Brother Rulin, I want to observe your military training, and train a regiment to defend your hometown when you return to Suzhou."

Su Ze didn't have any dissatisfaction with Xu Shixing's stealing a teacher to learn skills, but said generously: "Brother Ru Mo, just watch and learn, and Su doesn't have any tricks in training soldiers. He only used dead effort."

But when Xu Shixing actually watched Su Ze's military training, he realized how difficult it is to learn the so-called "dead strength".

Being able to share joys and sorrows with the soldiers is difficult for most of the military officers in Ming Dynasty, and the seemingly simple thing of clearly distinguishing rewards and punishments is not as easy as it seems.

In the following daily drills, logistical supplies, Su Ze would often see a doctor for soldiers and nearby people, and formulate various plans for night duty and patrolling. Xu Shixing soon understood why Su Ze's army was so strong in fighting.

Not to mention the military pay, Su Zehua spent a huge amount on the logistics and training of each soldier, and the Ming Dynasty couldn't afford to support such soldiers!

Even if they could afford it, those military officers would spend all the money greedily. Another important reason why the Anti-Japanese Anti-Smuggling Corps was able to quickly form a fighting force was the twenty guards that Su Ze brought.

The group of guards headed by Lin Deyang were all elites selected by Lin Mojun. They were originally trained by the Changning Guard as grassroots officers.

It is also because of their excellent quality that they can quickly form combat effectiveness on the battlefield. Otherwise, Su Ze alone would not be able to train such elites in a short period of time.

Xu Shixing quickly gave up the idea of ​​learning military training. He followed Su Ze to study military counselor affairs with peace of mind. Starting from formulating the combat plan, he followed Su Ze to learn the most basic military technology.

After giving up and eating into a fat man, Xu Shixing's study progress is soaring. He is also very talented in being a staff officer, and he is also very talented in intelligence work. Xu Shixing can always get complicated descriptions from the fleeing people. In the process, the real intelligence on the front line was integrated by peeling off cocoons.

Su Ze was amazed, the quality of talents in Jiangnan in this era is really terrifying, he deserves to be the chief assistant of the cabinet in the future, and he really is not a vegetarian.

From the information compiled by Xu Shixing, Xu Hai's attack on Zhenjiang encountered resistance. At the age of 70, Shangshu Yang Bo of the Nanjing Ministry of War personally supervised the battle of Zhenjiang and defended Zhenjiang to the death.

Although Zhenjiang was defended, the Yangtze River Navy went out rashly and was wiped out by the Japanese pirate boat attack. Yang Bo immediately burned down the Jingkou naval camp, blocking the Japanese pirates' plan to seize the Jingkou Ferry.

The Beigu Pavilion in Jingkou was also burned in the fire, and the Japanese pirates' attack on Zhenjiang was blocked, and they scattered to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Su Ze looked at the map, and it was his turn to move.