The First Uncle of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 139 Focus on Logistics
"I like reading books and history books. I think it would be good for him to go to U-Tsang." Xu Da was also restless and said, "If he goes to U-Tsang, he will definitely not be interested in fighting. Maybe he will go to see Emperor Gong."

Ma Xun did not seem to be particularly keen on fighting, but many people knew that he liked to travel around and look around. Whenever he arrived at a place, he would look for local specialties and check local chronicles.

Chang Yuchun laughed and said, "The emperor brought back Lizong's skull, so it's appropriate for me to bring back Gongdi's remains."

Although Emperor Gong of Southern Song Dynasty Zhao was not the king who destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, he was essentially the king. After all, he inherited the throne according to the will, and in the end he could only surrender to the Yuan Dynasty with Empress Dowager Xie.

It's just that his treatment seemed to be a little better than that of Song Huizong and Song Qinzong. He was sent to U-Tsang to become a lama. After being a captive for decades, he could not escape the fate of being executed by the Yuan Dynasty emperor.

Ma Xun said bluntly, "I am different from those people. I can't even understand Buddhist scriptures, and I don't want to learn from some foreign monks. Those people use human skin as drums and leg bones as instruments, but I can't do that."

Everyone was stunned for a moment, thinking that Ma Xun was exaggerating. "Little brother, are you talking nonsense? Foreign monks are also monks, how can they do such things!"

"There really are trumpets for these things. Do you think taking the skull of Song Lizong is just to show off their merits?" Ma Xun said, "It's probably a magic weapon. There are many of them in U-Tsang."

At the beginning of liberation, many serfs were called two-legged livestock. Some serfs were not only born to work for the landlords and monks, but also had their skin and bones extracted after death for use as ritual instruments.

It is difficult to say what the current situation in U-Tsang is, but one thing is certain: it is definitely not getting any better.

When they heard what Ma Xun said, the people in the Grand Marshal's Office began to feel scared. They didn't think Ma Xun was joking.

They also knew that Ma Xiuying and Ma Xun, both siblings, liked to read history books, and that the king's uncle had read a lot of miscellaneous books, and seemed to know everything from astronomy to geography.

Then what he said was not fabricated out of thin air. How could there be such a weird and evil monk?

Foreign monks are still monks. Although some people don't have a good impression of monks, they shouldn't do things that sound inappropriate for human beings.

Deng Yu became even more depressed. He wanted to fight Helin even more, but his superior obviously had no intention of doing so.

This time Tang He was going to attack Ming Xia, and Deng Yu was actually going to help Tang He.

The temporary arrangement was to have Deng Yu stationed in Xiangyang to raise funds and transport food for the soldiers and fodder for the horses to supply the various troops participating in the expedition.

Everyone is working hard to make Tang He a duke. Deng Yu, the Duke of Wei who has made outstanding military achievements, is now providing logistical support for Tang He, the Marquis of Zhongshan.

There was no way, because Tang He was Zhu Yuanzhang's childhood friend, and he had a good relationship with the Huaixi people in the army.

Tang He's military achievements were not outstanding, but everyone was generally convinced by this big brother. Deng Yu, the "younger brother", had no objection to helping him with logistics and other things.

After the joke, Ma found Fu Youde, "Marquis of Yingchuan."

Fu Youde hurriedly bowed politely, "My Lord, you are so polite."

Ma Xun smiled and said, "After all, we are from the same hometown."

Fu Youde quickly said modestly, "I dare not flatter you. Although I am from Xiangcheng, I just fled to Yingzhou in my early years."

Fu Youde was from Xiangcheng, Suzhou, which is now Huaibei.

However, according to the administrative division of the Yuan Dynasty, these all belonged to the Jiangnan and Hebei provinces, and were all under the jurisdiction of Suzhou and Guide Prefecture.

Even though Fu Youde followed Li Er and Li Xixi successively, and then joined Ming Yuzhen and Chen Youliang, he was basically not particularly valued by these people.

It was only when he served under Zhu Yuanzhang that Fu Youde quickly grew into a capable general.

Even though he is now only the Marquis of Yingchuan, he is only ranked 29th among the meritorious officials, but a large part of the reason for this is that Fu Youde has little experience.

The current deputy governor of the Grand Marshal's Office is Feng Sheng, Duke of Song, followed by Fu Youde, Lu Zhongheng, Marquis of Ji'an, Gu Shi, Marquis of Jining, Chen De, Marquis of Linjiang, Wang Zhi, Marquis of Lu'an, Zheng Yuchun, Marquis of Xingyang, Wu Liang, Marquis of Jiangyin, and Zhao Yong, Marquis of Nanxiong.

The so-called Tongzhi is the deputy of the left and right governors, and is the real "second in command".

Fu Youde was actually in an awkward position. He was not Zhu Yuanzhang's most trusted general, but he had outstanding abilities. He was considered the second most powerful general in the army after Chang Yuchun.

Pointing to the side, Ma Xun said, "It just so happens that I don't know much about some things in the army, and I hope Yingchuan Hou can teach me."

Although Fu Youde was a man with an extremely strong temper, he was not without emotional intelligence. "You are too modest, my uncle. I know everything."

There were too many people from Huaixi who wanted to have a good relationship with Ma Xun. Even among the twenty-four generals from Huaixi who followed the emperor to the south to Dingyuan, many of them had almost no contact with Ma Xun.

For people like Fu Youde, wanting to become "friends" with Ma Xun is almost a luxury.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the emperor, empress, and crown prince loved Ma Xun, and could also see the influence of this brother-in-law in the court.

Ma Xun asked, "Brother Fu, I just want to ask about armor. I read in history books that paper armor in the Song Dynasty seemed to be hard to penetrate by arrows and was also lightweight. Why isn't it used in the army now?" Fu Youde said, "It's rainy and wet, which makes it difficult to preserve paper armor. Besides, many soldiers don't want to wear paper armor because they think it's not safe. Your Majesty is raising an army in the south, and paper armor is not suitable for us to use."

Ma Xun understood it all at once. Although paper armor had been proven to be useful, that was only during the Song Dynasty. From the Yuan Dynasty to the early Ming Dynasty, no one liked paper armor very much.

It is true that iron armor has many inconveniences, but after all, it is made of steel, and you feel safe when you wear it.

As for paper armor, even though it has good defensive capabilities, many people still subconsciously think that it is paper. Even if it is thicker, it is still paper after all.

Looking at Ma Xun, Fu Youde continued, "When I followed His Majesty in the battle at Poyang Lake, the navy officers and soldiers were unwilling to wear paper armor."

Ma Xun was stunned for a moment. He originally thought that the navy soldiers liked to wear paper armor because it was light.

During this period, naval battles often involved boarding, jumping from one ship to another. This was when the advantage of light armor came into play.

Ma Xun smiled and asked, "Brother Fu, I heard that during the battle on Poyang Lake, you also used a light boat to attack Chen Youliang's large ship. What kind of armor were you wearing?"

"It must be heavy armor!" Chang Yuchun suddenly interrupted, "I wear chain mail inside, heavy armor outside, and a smock. He is similar, both wearing heavy armor."

Ma Xun looked at Chang Yuchun and Fu Youde, and said with emotion, "It's fortunate that you are so big, otherwise you would be crushed by the armor. It's even more rare to have a warhorse that can carry you, and can also carry you to the front."

When Fu Youde surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang, he was placed under the command of Chang Yuchun.

During the Battle of Poyang Lake, Chang Yuchun was the main contributor. He and Fu Youde rode in a small boat to attack Chen Youliang's giant warships.

Chang Yuchun looked at Ma Xun and said with a smile, "There are many artisans in the army now. Everyone knows how to make armor and gunpowder. The guards in various places also know how to produce muskets and cannons. There is no need for other methods."

Seeing that Ma Xun seemed to understand, Chang Yuchun continued, "The Song Dynasty might have used paper armor, but not many people know about those old methods now. It would not be cost-effective for the army to spend a lot of effort on this, and it would be difficult to raise supplies."

After hearing what Chang Yuchun said, Ma Xun seemed to understand all of a sudden. After all, it was a matter of logistics.

Sometimes when you want to innovate, the first resistance you encounter is that some of the current vested interests will stop you.

As far as military equipment and other things are concerned, it seems that some new inventions can bring help, but this is not absolute.

Later armies also emphasized the commonality of logistics. If an army had guns of various models and bullets that were not interchangeable, the logistics department would be in big trouble.

If a country's aircraft are made by many different countries, the pressure on logistics and maintenance will increase.

It is actually the same now. The army is now equipped with iron armor. If a paper armor is made, the craftsmen will start to have a headache.

However, after thinking about it carefully, Ma Xun felt that the problem was not too big. Paper armor and other things were consumables, and the most important thing was some daily preservation issues.

It's nothing more than training some craftsmen, etc., and it may take some time to set up the "production line".

While chatting with Fu Youde and others, we mainly focused on logistical matters.

Leading troops to fight was really not Ma Xun's forte, especially in front of Chang Yuchun and others. If he mentioned the art of war, it would be tantamount to showing off one's skill in front of an expert. He should not do such a thing to deceive himself.

Tang He also ran over and said, "Little brother, can you trust your medical officers?"

Not only Tang He attached importance to these matters, Fu Youde also attached great importance to them, because there would be two armies in Mingxia this time, and these two people would each lead an army into Sichuan.

"I think he's reliable, and should be better than the current medical officer." Ma Xun said seriously, "I was going to talk to you about this, too. Medical officers can't be assigned to each guard post."

Tang He said dissatisfiedly, "If they are not assigned to the garrison, what is the point of having a medical officer?"

Today's medical officers are in the garrisons, and each one is responsible for treating the wounded soldiers in a garrison.

"After the battle, they are in the wounded camp. These people can treat external injuries and provide medical care." Ma Xun hurriedly explained, "We brought them with us during the war. When the wounded are transported down, they rely on these people to treat them."

This is what a field hospital means, and this is also how Ma Xun intends to improve some of the current battlefield treatments.

Chang Yuchun became serious and asked, "Make room for these people to accommodate the wounded?"

"That's about it. Send all the soldiers from each garrison over when the time comes." Ma Xun explained, "They are all soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. After the battle, will there be any distinction between you and me? If you can save one, it's one. After you recover, you can return to your own team."

Chang Yuchun and others became serious because what Ma Xun said was easy to understand.

However, it is still somewhat different from some existing situations. Setting up a special "field hospital" and gathering a group of medical officers who are good at treating wounded soldiers and understand nursing is really a unique idea!
(End of this chapter)