Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 401: Divine Fire Crow and Divine Arrow (Part )

The person who studied the Shengwu Army was not Liu Ji, but Tao Guangyi, the Wanhu of Wuzhou Road in the Yuan court.

Liu Ji had already come into contact with the Shengwu Army when he surrendered in Jiaxing. There is nothing much to study about him because Lu Jin said in the manifesto that surrender can save one's life, and only those who voluntarily offer the city will have merit. Liu Ji was only forced to surrender after the city was broken, and had no merit. At most he could only save his life. So after handing over his work, he was directly driven away and sent home.

However, Liu Ji's hometown was in Chuzhou Road, which had nothing to do with Wuzhou Road. His identity was also sensitive. He was a Jinshi official of the Yuan court and he surrendered while defending the city of Jiaxing. If he rashly returned to his hometown, he would definitely be questioned by many people and even held accountable by the Yuan court.

Moreover, at Lu Jin's current speed of advancement, it won't be long before they will reach his hometown. If he goes back now, he will be beaten again, and he may not be lucky enough to survive next time.

So he simply decided not to go back, and currently lives in seclusion in a friend's home in Jiaxing, reflecting, reflecting, and reflecting all day long. He recalled his ups and downs in the Yuan Dynasty officialdom, the corruption and depravity of the Yuan court, and the crushing victory of the Shengwu Army when it attacked. Then he witnessed with his own eyes the nine-level tiered tax issued by Lu Jin, forcing the landlords to implement the Enfeoffment Order. In addition, the government's series of policies such as reducing rents, reducing interest rates, and abolishing usury, countless grassroots people immediately became truly supportive of the new government.

Liu Ji was touched and had a great enlightenment, so he began to write a book, entitled "Yu Li Zi", which is a collection of essays combining political commentary and fables. The central idea can be summed up in four words: Rebellion is justified!

He even used the story of King Wu's conquest of King Zhou and the use of the 'virtuous' to defeat the 'unrighteous' to illustrate the point that rebellion is justified. He also quoted a large number of fables from Zhuangzi and adapted them, saying that those in power should not exploit the common people. This was an implicit satire on the Yuan Dynasty's corrupt politics, which exploited excessively and eventually caused the people to revolt. From this, we can see how great an impact Lu Jin's eastward expedition and subsequent policies had on his spirit.

But that's all. The military book "A Hundred Battles and Strategy" that was later passed down was not written by Liu Ji, and it is impossible to verify who the original author was. The original military book was written in the late Northern Song Dynasty and was reprinted again in the Ming Dynasty. People in the Ming Dynasty thought that this book was written in the late Southern Song Dynasty. It was reprinted again during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty. People in the Qing Dynasty directly attributed the author to Liu Ji, using Liu Ji's name, but in fact it had nothing to do with him.

There are also the so-called "Thirty-six Strategies for Current Affairs", which were also fabricated by later generations and attributed to Liu Ji. In fact, there were no thirty-six strategies at all.

This man has been deified too much, and his real talent is not outstanding. Although he knows a little about military affairs and can be a military adviser, Lu Jin already has military talents such as Feng Guoyong, Bao Yu, Xia Yu, and Zhan Ding around him. He is not short of advisers, so he has no intention of recruiting Liu Ji and just lets him go.

Unlike Liu Ji, who is now a recluse and idler, those officials in the Yuan court are of course the ones who really need to study the Shengwu Army.

In the second phase of this Eastern Expedition, the detachment led by Guo Zixing had already captured Pujiang County, and Pujiang County had reached the eastern gate of the Jinqu Basin, with only Yiwu between it and the city of Jinhua. If the Yuan court defenders of Wuzhou Road did not make preparations, then when Lu Jin launched the next attack, they would be the first to die. How could they not be nervous?

With the end of the Eastern Expedition, the Shengwu Army launched such a large-scale military operation with many witnesses along the way, and the Shengwu Army's own intelligence was inevitably leaked. Of course, all of this was intelligence that could be collected through public channels.

Now, more than two months have passed, and more and more news has reached Jinhua, allowing the Yuan court officials in Wuzhou Road to have a roughly accurate understanding of the combat style of the Shengwu Army.

First, for example, Lu Jin’s army is divided into the Shengwu Army and the Imperial Guard, but they don’t know about the Neiwei Army yet.

Second, the number of the Imperial Guards is relatively small, but they are very elite and equipped with a large number of firearms. They also have a considerable number of heavy armored infantry, called the Xianzhen Camp, which is the main attacking force of Lu Jin's army. The Shengwu Army, which has the largest number of troops, is also very good at fighting. They use long spears and large formations as their main means of attack. They are good at hand-to-hand combat, are fearless of death, and have a high armor rate. They are especially good at field battles, but do not seem to be good at sieges.

Third, Lu Jin was very good at spy warfare, which could be seen from the fact that he issued proclamations to various places in eastern Zhejiang before the war. This showed that the spies sent by Lu Jin had already infiltrated various cities in eastern Zhejiang. When attacking cities in the east, there would often be spies in the city to act as internal support. Even if these spies did nothing but spread rumors, it was enough to shake the morale of the defenders. This was an important reason why the Shengwu Army attacked cities so quickly.

Fourth, based on the public intelligence they collected, they conducted a brief review of the battle process. The Shengwu Army was divided into four groups, advancing north and south of Taihu Lake, and finally joined forces in Hangzhou. Every city they encountered along the way did not last more than two days.
Basically, if the Shengwu Army arrived at the city in the morning, they would definitely be able to capture the city before dark that day. If they arrived at the city in the evening, they would be able to capture the city at the latest during the daytime of the next day. In other words, if we simply use the time to calculate, basically no city can hold out for more than a day. This speed of siege is really too exaggerated. Could it be that the city and the defenders of the Yuan court are all made of paper? !
The fifth and most crucial point is that it is said that there is a large musket in Lu Jin's imperial guards, which is made of fine iron and weighs a thousand pounds. It is usually mounted on a cart and requires several draft horses to drag it. It can march with the large army. Such a heavy and inconvenient thing, in exchange for an extremely exaggerated offensive capability. It is said that it can launch iron bullets weighing more than ten pounds to a distance of three or four miles. It can not only fire solid iron bullets, but also blooming bullets filled with gunpowder, or dense iron balls the size of dates.

Whenever there was a field battle, if this kind of musket was fired at the enemy, one shot would cause destruction for several miles and kill both men and horses. If they were lined up in a row and fired at the same time, no army formation would be able to withstand this attack.

Whenever a city was attacked, a high gun platform would be built a mile outside the city, and large guns would be placed on it to fire at the city walls in all directions. The defenders would be unable to stop them and it would be difficult to station people on the city walls. The guns, batons and other city defense equipment would be completely destroyed. The heavily armored infantry would then attack the city like ants, and the city would be broken if they rushed forward.

This style of fighting is really too shameless. Relying on the range advantage of large muskets, they first clear out the defenders on the city walls outside the defenders' attack range, and then use heavily armored soldiers to attack the undefended city walls. Who can stop them?
Admittedly, you can say that the Shengwu Army's tactics are rigid and they only use this tactic over and over again, but you cannot deny that this tactic is indeed effective. None of the cities the Shengwu Army encountered could hold out for more than a day. This is the best proof!

If it is so effective, why shouldn't I use it? Unless the Yuan army can come up with a way to restrain this tactic, but this kind of tactic to defeat the enemy is not so easy to think of. If it is so easy to think of, the city in front of them would have blocked it long ago, and they would not have the turn to think of a solution here.

All the senior officials of Wuzhou Road in the Yuan court included Yang Hui, another inspector of Zhejiang East, Sengzhu, the Darughachi of Wuzhou Road, Tao Guangyi, the Wanhu of Wuzhou Road, Ning Anqing, the co-director of the Privy Council, Li Xiang, the chief official of the Wanhu Mansion, and Temureisi, the Imperial Censor of the Southern Court.

A group of high-ranking officials found various military books and flipped through the strange weapons in the books to see if there was anything that could restrain the Shengwu Army's fire guns. It was really difficult for them.
Ning Anqing, a member of the Privy Council, was the first to speak up, "The biggest threat of this kind of firearm is actually its range. If the enemy army builds a gun platform one mile away from the city and fires at the city, we will have almost no means to effectively counter it and can only passively take the beating. This is the most fatal thing."

Everyone else nodded, and Yang Hui, the inspector of Zhejiang East, also said, "Yes, at this distance, neither the bow and arrow nor the crossbow can shoot that far. The enemy army can just wipe out all the defenders on the city wall, and then attack the city. We will have no way to deal with it."

The Southern Imperial Court Attendant Temurei Si also said, "Even if it is a large-scale fennel cannon, its range is only more than 200 steps at most, at most only half a mile, and it still cannot hit the enemy's gun platform. In this world, besides fennel cannons, bowl-mouthed guns, and bows and crossbows, are there any other weapons that can shoot three or four miles?"

Li Xiang, a lower-ranking official, had remained silent and was flipping through a book. After hearing these words, he finally found a weapon in the military book.

"Here it is. In the Wujing Zongyao of the pre-Song Dynasty, there is a crossbow that requires several people to work together to fire, and it has a very long range!"

Everyone looked at him sideways when they heard this, and Ning Anqing immediately asked, "Is there a specific range number?"

"Yes, it can shoot three hundred steps." Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads.

Three hundred steps, according to the ancient rule of one step of 450 meters, three hundred steps is only meters. Even if you take bigger steps, it can only reach more than meters at most. This range is indeed enough to reach the gun platform one mile away, but Lu Jin's fire gun has a range of more than one mile. It is said that it can shoot three or four miles. Even if you have a bed crossbow, what can it do? At most, I can retreat another hundred steps and suppress you with my range!
After Li Xiang finished speaking, he realized that the range of only one mile was completely incapable of suppressing the Shengwu Army's muskets, so he stopped talking and continued to flip through the book in silence.

The others were silent for a while, and finally someone couldn't help but question it. The Daluhachi monk said, "Is there really a fire gun in the world that can shoot three or four miles away? We have fire guns ourselves. The copper-cast bowl-mouthed gun weighing hundreds of pounds on the top of Jinhua City has a range similar to that of the fennel cannon, only two or three hundred steps.

"The enemy's fire guns weigh over a thousand pounds. Even if they are a little bigger than our bowl-mouthed guns, their range is only one mile at most. How could there be a fire gun that can shoot three or four miles? I think most of the civilians who escaped didn't know what a fire gun was and were scared silly by the enemy, so they just talked nonsense."

Yang Hui retorted on the spot, "From the time the rebel army sent out the order to send troops to eastern Zhejiang, until Pujiang, Xiangshan and other places were completely occupied, it took only 40 days in total. In more than 40 days, nearly 40 cities were conquered. What else can we believe except that the rebel army's fire guns can hit three or four miles? Could it be that the nearly cities all voluntarily surrendered on the day they encountered the rebel army?"

Yes, the battle record of the Holy Army is there. Can you find a better explanation other than believing that the enemy’s weapons are invincible?

The monk moved his lips, wanting to say something but stopping himself. In the end, he could not deceive himself, so he fell silent.

At this time, Li Xiang, who had been flipping through a book, said, "How about we dig trenches one, two, or three miles outside the city? If we dig a few more trenches, the enemy army won't be able to build a gun platform, right?"

Ning Anqing closed his eyes and shook his head, "It's useless. Digging trenches can only slow down the enemy's siege speed. If you rely on the city wall with your back and the trenches in front of you, and send a large army to fight outside the city, you still have to deal with the enemy's fire guns first. Otherwise, if you don't station troops outside the city for a field battle, a few trenches will only cause some trouble to the enemy and delay the time to fill the trenches for a few days.

"In short, whether it's a field battle or defending a city, we must first find a way to restrain the enemy's firearms. Only in this way can we hold on. We must first hold a pass to prevent the enemy from continuing to expand. Only then can we buy time for the court to prepare troops for a counterattack."

Everyone ignored what was said. If they could come up with a solution, would they still have to sit here and ponder?

Ning Anqing looked around at everyone and found that some were drinking tea, some were drinking wine, and Li Xiang was still flipping through a book. On the contrary, Tao Guangyi, the Wanhu of Wuzhou Road, was there writing and drawing with a pen and paper. Moreover, until now, Tao Guangyi had not said a word during the discussion.

Ning Anqing frowned and asked, "Why didn't Tao Wanhu say anything? Everyone is thinking about how to defeat the enemy, why don't you, the military commander of Wuzhou Road, say anything?"

Tao Guangyi then put down the brush in his hand and said, "Oh, I am also studying the bandit army's fire guns. Why can they have a much longer range than ours? So I drew a few pictures of the bandit army's fire guns based on the descriptions I heard, maybe I can find out something."

"Oh? Show it to everyone." Ning Anqing immediately became interested.

Tao Guangyi placed the drawings he had just drawn in the middle of the table. Everyone immediately gathered around, and then he introduced them.

"According to the description I heard, the bandit army's fire guns are made of iron, not copper. It's hard to say whether they were cast or forged. However, such a large iron tool weighs more than a thousand pounds. I personally prefer to cast it. After all, such a large object is not easy to forge.

"Then the rebel army's fire guns are much longer than our bowl-shaped guns. They are much longer. From what I have heard, this kind of fire gun looks like a long and thin iron pipe from a distance, and the muzzle should be flat, not bowl-shaped.

"Therefore, I speculate that this type of fire gun should use a closed-mouth iron bullet, that is, the iron bullet is exactly the same size as the gun barrel, or the gun barrel is slightly larger than the iron bullet, which is convenient for loading. It is not like a bowl-mouthed gun, where the bullet fired is larger than the gun barrel. Before the bullet is fired, the gunpowder has already lost most of its firepower. This may be the reason why the bandit army's fire gun can shoot three or four miles.

"According to this idea, the bandit army's musket is really a 'big musket'. What I mean is, it is a small single-eye musket used by one person, but it is directly enlarged, not what you think, that is, making the bowl-mouthed musket bigger.

"Finally, there is this artillery cart. Oh, by the way, I heard that the rebel army calls this kind of large firearm a cannon, or a cannon, not a large firearm.

"It is said that the wheels of this artillery cart are as high as a man's shoulders. It is very simple in shape, with only two wheels and an axle to place the gun barrel on top. There is also a wooden leg at the back that is propped up on the ground to stabilize the gun. There is also a wooden box cart with two wheels. I suspect it is used to store cannonballs and gunpowder.

“When marching, the artillery cart and the ammunition cart are connected by pins, turning into a four-wheeled vehicle that can turn and is pulled by several draft horses. It is really ingenious, and the person who can build this artillery cart must be a great craftsman.

"There are two other types of firearms used by the bandits. One is a fire musket that can be used by a single infantryman. Its barrel is said to be very long, about three feet long, with a curved wooden handle at the back, shaped like a dog's leg. It is said that the muzzle can also be connected to a thin spear head, one and a half feet long. All together, it may be more than six feet long. It can be used as a fire musket for long-range shooting, and as a short gun for hand-to-hand combat.

“Perhaps because this type of fire gun is shaped like a short gun, the rebel army simply called it a fire gun instead of a fire gun.

"This is not the most ingenious thing. I also heard from the defeated soldiers who fled to Jinhua that their muskets can be loaded and fired very quickly, and do not need to be ignited with open flames. There is a mechanism similar to a crossbow on it. Just pull the trigger and the gunpowder will ignite and the bullet will be fired. But I really can't figure out what kind of crossbow mechanism can ignite the gunpowder in the barrel and prevent the barrel from exploding.
"The last type is an iron-shell thunder bomb. It is said that it has a wooden handle, which makes it easier to throw and carry. This is not much different from the thunder bombs of this dynasty and the former Song Dynasty, but the muskets and cannons are very powerful."

Yang Hui, Ning Anqing and others looked at the sketch on paper and had to say that Tao Guangyi's painting skills were quite good. He drew the appearance of muskets and cannons based only on his imagination and other people's descriptions, which shocked everyone. They felt like they had finally seen the true face of Mount Lu.

Yang Hui, the inspector of East Zhejiang, asked directly, "Since Tao Wanhu already knows the details of the rebel army's firearms, is it possible for us to manufacture such muskets and cannons?"

(End of this chapter)