Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 284 Limitations of Thinking

It takes time to train a battalion of soldiers. Zhu Shencui has only trained two sentries since last year. In terms of time, it will take at least a year to train a battalion. Time is nothing to Zhu Shencui. Now he still has plenty of time. However, with the increase in soldiers, the financial support is also huge.

If it had not been for this unexpected success, if Emperor Tianqi and Wei Zhongxian had not decided to give the Tenger tribe the right to trade by enthroning it, and had appointed the East Factory and the Embroidered Uniform Guard as the core to be in charge of border trade, and had not handed this matter over to Zhou Anmin, Zhu Shenzui would probably not have been able to come up with so much silver.

There is a saying in later generations to describe war: a cannon shot is worth a fortune.

This does not mean that you can earn ten thousand taels of gold when your cannon fires. On the contrary, the real meaning of this sentence is that war should either be fought or not. Once the war starts, the money will flow out like water. The consumption of ten thousand taels of gold is not excessive at all. In modern wars in the future, a cruise missile is worth 150 million yuan, a fighter plane is as high as 200 million yuan, and even an ordinary howitzer shell costs more than 10,000 yuan. All the money is lost in a war!
Zhu Shenzhui had calculated before that if a battalion of 800 people was used, it would require a military expenditure of 65,000 taels to maintain, and this did not include the wartime expenditure. Now, according to the new organization of a battalion of nearly 1,000 people, the military expenditure has reached nearly 80,000 taels.

If military equipment and so on are added, a minimum of 100,000 taels would be needed to support it a year. Once a war breaks out, an expenditure of 200,000 taels would not be excessive. How could ordinary people afford such a huge military expenditure?

No wonder Qi Jiguang was such a high-ranking official, commanded a large army, and was trusted by the three emperors Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli, with the support of Zhang Juzheng. But Qi Jiguang did not leave any wealth until his death, and he was extremely poor considering his status.

You should know that it is not an exaggeration to say that Li Chengliang, the general of Liaodong, whose reputation was not as great as Qi Jiguang, was worth millions. Qi Jiguang had a higher status and a better reputation in the court, so how could he not be as rich as Li Chengliang?

In fact, Qi Jiguang was not without money. He used all his money to subsidize the army. The Qi Family Army was different from the ordinary Ming Army. The Qi Family Army adopted the recruitment system, while the ordinary Ming Army adopted the military household system. In addition, the Qi Family Army had established a strict military pay system since its early days. As the founder, Qi Jiguang relied on this system to maintain the army's strong combat effectiveness and excellent armament.

From this point of view, Qi Jiguang directly raised a huge number of "private soldiers" of nearly 6,000 people. Such a scale of private soldiers was unique in the entire Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years. Because of this, Qi Jiguang invested most of his money in it, and gave the rest to the bigwigs in the court to maintain the support of the court. So where would he get any money?
Zhu Shenzui's business is now quite big and he needs money everywhere, so after all the calculations, he has found that even with the support of the tribe and the income from border trade, he can only maintain the expenses of one battalion at best.

However, this is enough for Zhu Shenzhui. With this battalion of soldiers, he has the confidence. It will be more convenient to expand the army based on this in the future. And it is still unclear what the future will be like.

Zhu Shencui's arrival made Lu Yisheng and others extremely happy. After watching the training of the new recruits, Lu Yisheng, as the landlord, specially asked someone to prepare a table of wine and food to entertain Zhu Shencui.

Lou Lao Er and Yan Lao Si naturally accompanied them, and the four of them sat around happily. Lu Yisheng first toasted Zhu Shenzhui with a glass of wine. When the glass was empty, he put it down and sighed a few words.

"Sixth Master, we have suffered a great loss this time. If I had known this would happen, I would have followed you no matter what." Lu Yisheng sighed regretfully. When he learned that the new army had fought two consecutive battles upon arriving at the grassland and won so brilliantly, he felt extremely regretful.

It was frustrating to say the least. As the captain of the Zhaowuling Hundred Households Office, these new soldiers were originally trained by him. Logically, he should have led the team to the grasslands for training this time. But who would have thought that this job would be snatched by Wang Jinwu? If he had known this would happen, he should not have given it to Wang Jinwu. Now, he worked hard but the credit went to someone else.

That's not all. Hu Lin came back from the grassland some time ago and made a special trip to Zhaowuling. The two brothers had a drink after they met. At the table, Hu Lin talked about the three battles on the grassland with great enthusiasm. Although Hu Lin did not participate in the training of new recruits and did not understand the tactics of new recruits, he not only participated in the first encounter and the second camp raid, but also followed Zhu Shenzhui to the cavalry's surprise attack on the Dilibortaiji tribe.

In these three battles, Hu Lin killed several Mongols with his own hands, and he boasted about it for a long time after he came back. Seeing his beaming face, Lu Yisheng felt even worse, and regretted it so much that he wanted to bang his head against the wall.

Zhu Shenzhui told him that this was just an accident, and no one would have thought that something like that would happen on the grassland. But Lu Yisheng didn't need to be jealous of Wang Jinwu and Hu Lin. Isn't it easy to fight? Wait patiently to train the soldiers, and then let him lead the army to fight.

There is no order of merit in terms of achievements, and there is no need to rush to fight a war. There will be many opportunities to make meritorious contributions in the future. Are you still afraid of not having a war to fight?
Hearing Zhu Shencui's comfort, Lu Yisheng finally smiled. He quickly poured another glass of wine to toast Zhu Shencui, and kept saying that Zhu Shencui must remember him next time and must not leave him behind again. If Wang Jinwu and Hu Lin got all the credit again, he would not be able to raise his head in front of them.

Hearing him say this, Zhu Shenzhui couldn't help laughing, and he drank the wine in his glass in one gulp and readily agreed to his request. On the side, Lou Laoer and Yan Laosi also showed envious expressions. As veterans of the Qi Family Army, the gene of war has long been deeply rooted in their bones. Although their ages are unclear, they are also full of passion. When they think of the fighting on the battlefield, their hearts can't help but surge.

Unfortunately, Lou Lao Er and Yan Lao Si knew their own affairs. Although they were unwilling to admit that they were old, their bodies did not allow them to go to the battlefield. Compared with Lao Jin, who was blind in one eye, one of them was missing an arm and the other was broken a leg. They could do training on weekdays, but they were not suitable for going to the battlefield.

Like Lu Yishen, when Lou Laoer and Yan Laosi heard that Lao Jin was leading his men to kill people everywhere on the grassland, they were so envious and jealous that they felt as sour as Shanxi aged vinegar for several days. Every night when they drank and talked about this, they had to bring Lao Jin out and curse him a few times before they could feel better.

But no matter how much they curse, they know in their hearts that they cannot compare with the young people, not even with Old Jin who has all his hands and feet. They have no choice but to accept their fate.

Although they could not go to the battlefield, these new soldiers were trained by themselves, which was something they were proud of. In addition, the conditions in Zhaowuling were much better than those in their hometown. Not only were they paid well, but they were also served with good food and wine every day. Even their superior Zhu Shenzhu was polite to them. Such days were much more comfortable than in their hometown. Not only did they gain a lot of weight this year, but they also became healthier. The daily training made these new soldiers full of energy.

While drinking, the three men could not help but inquire about the details of the grassland war. Although Hu Lin had been to Zhaowuling before and talked about the three battles, Hu Lin was not Zhu Shencui. He merely participated in the war, so naturally he did not know as many details as Zhu Shencui, who was the one who actually commanded and made the decisions.

Faced with their curiosity, Zhu Shencui did not hide anything and immediately picked out some to tell them. As Zhu Shencui spoke, the three people's eyes became brighter and brighter. When Zhu Shencui talked about the tense moments, they held their breath and listened attentively.

Finally, Zhu Shenzhui also talked about his own feelings. It seemed that these three battles were won easily but there was also a luck aspect to it, especially in the battle to behead Galiba in the camp. If Wang Hai had not arrived by chance, Galiba would have almost escaped.

If Galiba had not been captured at that time, and if they had waited for the guy to run away and then gathered their men to counterattack, all of them would have been trapped, and there would have been no chance of the subsequent victory.

"The Portuguese cannons we brought with us this time were very useful. Whether it was the grassland raid or the cavalry surprise attack, we would not have been able to win so easily without those Portuguese cannons. However, the Portuguese cannons were too heavy and we could not bring them with us during the surprise attack on the camp. Otherwise, we would not have won so thrillingly."

"Sixth Master, actually, our Qi Family Army didn't use Portuguese cannons very often in infantry fighting vehicles. Instead, the Tiger Crouching Cannon was more convenient. This thing is very light and can be fired by just placing it on the ground. Although its power is not as strong as that of the Portuguese cannon and its firing speed is not fast, it is much better than having no cannon at all." Yan Laosi couldn't help but make a suggestion. When he said this, Lou Laoer agreed. The Tiger Crouching Cannon was more commonly used in the Qi Family Army than the Portuguese cannon and could be regarded as one of the Qi Family Army's conventional firearms.

Nodding silently, Zhu Shencui expressed his approval. In fact, his new army had already been equipped with tiger squat cannons, but Zhu Shencui did not bring them with him when he led his troops to the grassland before. Instead, he brought three Portuguese cannons.

At that time, it was considered that the range of the Portuguese gun was longer than that of the tiger squat cannon and its power was greater than that of the tiger squat cannon. In addition, the Portuguese gun had a great advantage in that it was fired from a sub-gun and had an extremely fast loading speed, making it more suitable for fighting against cavalry on the grassland.

However, they did not expect that the grassland would encounter a tribal rebellion. Because of the fake sneak attack on the camp, the larger Portuguese guns could not be carried at all. This also led to the lack of artillery, which was a decisive factor on the battlefield when using the decapitation tactics against Galiba.

Speaking of the Tiger Crouching Cannon, this small cannon was invented by Qi Jiguang. It was a small cannon that was made by shrinking the original cannon and then fixing it with a bracket for firing.

As the name suggests, the tiger squatting cannon looks like a tiger squatting on the ground. In appearance, it is no different from the mortars of later generations, and its firing angle is also indirect shooting like the mortar.

However, the Tiger Crouching Cannon is a scattering cannon. It does not fire shells like the Red Cannon but rather scattered bullets. It has good power at close range and has a large impact area, making it very effective in infantry combat.

However, the Tiger Crouching Cannon also has its weakness, which is that it is very troublesome to load. Even for a skilled gunner, it takes at least a lot of time to reload and fire again after firing a shot. During this period of time, the Portuguese cannon would have fired several shots in a row. This is why Zhu Shenzhui only brought the Portuguese cannon and did not consider the Tiger Crouching Cannon when he went to the grassland last time.

(End of this chapter)