The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

The choice of Andingmen as the location for the military camp was based on several factors. Firstly, the area was surrounded by grasslands and wasteland, making it easy to bury the bodies of the Eight Banners families. Secondly, it was far from residential areas, allowing for firearms training without disturbing the residents with its loud noise.

Emperor Yongle (Zhu Di) also set up military camps here, including the elite Three Thousand Battalion.

Galdan then divided the entire military camp into four sections according to the cardinal directions: east, south, west, and north. The northern camp is now complete and houses 50,000 troops.

These 50,000 soldiers were all from the garrison troops around Beijing. Each of them had 20 to 30 mu of land, depending on whether it was paddy field or dry land. Even after handing over the grain stored in the garrison, it was enough to feed a family of five.

According to the system of the Five Military Commissions of the Ming Dynasty, after the garrison system was implemented, soldiers from garrisons in various places would be drawn to the capital to be trained and integrated into the main force.

Galdan never believed he was more capable than emperors like Zhu Di and Li Shimin; his only advantage was some groundbreaking vision.

With the Central Plains and the Han people, a nation known for its fierce fighting spirit, as long as the ruler was competent, they could conquer any country or territory they desired.

As soon as Galdan entered the training ground, he heard a thunderous sound of hooves, and then saw a thousand cavalrymen dressed in khaki modern military uniforms and wearing red-tasseled semi-circular iron helmets, speeding across the shooting range and rapidly firing their bows and arrows.

These people were all Mongolians provided by the grassland thousand-household garrison according to regulations, so their arrow shooting was extremely accurate, hitting the target most of the time at a range of fifty or sixty meters.

After the thousand cavalrymen, three thousand infantrymen, also dressed in khaki uniforms and carrying flintlock muskets, marched forward in five columns of six hundred men each.

The leader was a lieutenant general, wearing the same uniform, but with finer fabric and red epaulets on his shoulders, adorned with silver sunflowers. The adjutant general and deputy general above him had two and three sunflowers respectively.

As for General Zheng, he was made of gold.

The remaining ordinary soldiers still had khaki shoulder boards, with the ranks of small flag, general flag, centurion, and chiliarch, followed by those with iron sunflowers.

Galdan, who was not a professional, racked his brains to come up with this military uniform, and in the end, it was a eunuch who made it.

In the Ming Dynasty, his ancestors were in charge of designing court robes for officials. However, he failed to escape when he was young and was castrated by the Manchus. But his ancestral skills are still there.

This ordinary military uniform was made entirely by him, from pattern making to sewing, and even the gilding technique for the epaulets. He also taught the palace maids how to do it.

"Advance firing!"

With a command from the lieutenant, a burst of gunfire rang out. The wooden sign at the shooting range a hundred meters away was easily pierced, demonstrating that the cotton armor with iron plates representing the Eight Banners could not withstand damage within a hundred-meter radius.

Without the commanding officer giving any orders, the first rank crouched down and began taking out their fixed ammunition, while the rank behind them stepped forward and fired.

This process is repeated until everyone else has finished firing. By then, the soldiers in the first rank, whose guns are difficult to reload due to their long barrels, should also be able to successfully reload.

This is the forward-firing style, suitable for pursuing an enemy victory. It is also for firing from a stationary position, which means firing one shot and then retreating, reloading ammunition, and then advancing again.

Immediately following were thirty 500-pound cannons and ten 1,000-pound cannons, which arrived at the drill ground propelled by a large number of soldiers. The commander in charge of these cannons was a centurion.

However, this time there was no live-fire exercise; instead, the focus was on practicing rapid positioning and ammunition loading techniques.

These cannons, equivalent to three-pound and six-pound cannons in Western Europe, were manufactured by the Datong Military Factory according to Galdan's requirements.

Because the Hongyi cannons were designed for maximum firepower and long-term use, they had short barrels and thick inner walls, weighing three to four thousand kilograms, making them unsuitable for field battles.

Galdan's cannon was no less powerful than the Hongyi cannon, which weighed more than twice as much. Its drawback was that its lifespan was only half that of the cannon, and it had to be reworked after firing about a thousand rounds.

In fact, the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty were too meticulous. Cannons didn't need to be used for so long. For example, several heavy cannons weighing tens of thousands of kilograms were carefully made during the Wanli period and are still placed on the city wall. They are still powerful after being washed and cleaned.

But there's really no need for that.

After the artillerymen finished their drills, eight hundred soldiers armed with swords and shields came in and practiced pursuit and advance, which marked the end of the exercise.

At the same time, a military officer carrying two silver sunflowers on his shoulder rode a tall horse to the middle of the training ground, and everyone gathered in front of him.

This combined force of five to six thousand cavalry, infantry, and artillery was equivalent to a garrison or field battalion. The highest-ranking officer was a brigade commander, or in peacetime, a garrison commander.

With five or six thousand soldiers, they can complete most combat missions on their own. Even if surrounded by twenty or thirty thousand enemy troops, they will not be wiped out in a short time.

Just as Galdan was watching with great interest, Liu Weiqing, carrying the golden sun on his shoulder, rode up in front of him, dismounted, stood straight, and saluted with his fists clenched at eyebrow level.

"This humble general, Liu Weiqing, greets Your Majesty!"

After taking a look, Galdan realized that Liu Weiqing had grown a lot in just three months and no longer had the rough and unruly appearance he had before.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. After all, managing an army of 50,000 men on his own is equivalent to the organization of ten garrisons. Not to mention that his power has reached the pinnacle of ancient times, if he were to take another step, he would be a marshal with more than 100,000 men.

The disputes involving these 50,000 troops alone would be a headache, with even basic necessities like food, drink, and toileting being a major concern. In later generations, a manager in an electronics factory earning a monthly salary of seven or eight thousand yuan would find managing just two hundred people a headache.

"How well are they equipped and armed now?"

Upon hearing Galdan's question in Chinese, Liu Weiqing, mimicking a civil official, took an account book from his horse.

"Your Majesty, currently we have muskets in five battalions and artillery in only one battalion. The cavalry and infantry are fully equipped with swords, shields, armor, sabers, bows, and arrows because we have existing stock!"

"It's all according to His Majesty's wishes. We'd rather have people waiting for equipment than equipment waiting for people. We're practicing with muskets and cannons in rotation. Once we're fully equipped, we can fight for His Majesty against all the rebellious subjects!"

According to blood relations, Liu Weiqing was Galdan's nephew, a relationship equivalent to that between Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Wenzhong. Therefore, Galdan was very pleased and went up to pat him on the shoulder.

"It's time to get married, is there anyone you've found a wife?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Weiqing scratched his chin, about to say something, when suddenly his eyes widened.

"broken!"

"Your Majesty, not long after you departed, the Empress was found to be pregnant. Li Guangdi told me this, and he's frantic. He's already sent several waves of messengers to Jining, but there's still no news!"

Am I going to be a dad?

Galdan was also taken aback upon hearing this!

Doesn't that mean she's three or four months pregnant?

No wonder Li Guangdi was so anxious. Galdan, the emperor, was twenty-eight years old and had no children. Even for a grassland person, he shouldn't be dragging his feet like this.

In conclusion, the emperor had no heir, and the people's hearts were unsettled!

After all, the people under their command follow them only for the sake of their descendants' wealth and honor. If even the emperor had no offspring, who would their descendants enjoy the good fortune from?