In August, the major newspapers of the Ming Dynasty published a bombshell news that Tsarist Russia and the Kazakh Khanate invaded the northwest of the Ming Dynasty for no reason, assassinated the leader of the Dzungar tribe, attacked Ili, and slaughtered the border tribes.

As soon as this news came out, one stone stirred up a thousand waves, and immediately caused a huge reaction in Daming, and everyone condemned the Russians.

First of all, the students from all over the country scolded the large-scale demonstrations held by the schools, then the workers responded one after another, and finally the peasants, who held three-day demonstrations in various places to denounce Maozi!

The students put up slogans with the slogan "Resolutely protect our country, resist bandits, protect my country, protect my compatriots!" ”

A student stood on a high platform and said loudly: "Russia is a greedy and hungry wolf that has invaded our Siberian land for decades, and now it will not change its nature, and it will invade our northwest territory and bring disaster to our people!" ”

"Compatriots, as a member of the Ming Dynasty, we should contribute our own strength, although we can't go to the battlefield to fight the enemy, but we can use our hands to produce military supplies for the country and provide logistical support for the front-line soldiers!"

"We have to use our own strength to tell those hungry wolves that anyone who offends my Chinese Tianwei will be punished from afar!"

This kind of speech can be seen everywhere in the land of the Ming Dynasty. They are supporting this national war in their own way.

All the people of the Ming Dynasty are excited, and they have expressed their determination to resist the West's intervention in the southeast and the invasion of Russia.

At the same time, the major governors of the Ming Dynasty also wrote to resolutely support His Majesty the Emperor to attack all those who dare to offend the Ming Dynasty with the power of thunder, and wait for the dispatch of the imperial court, ready to fight at any time!

The entire military and people's hearts of the Ming Dynasty have been mobilized by Zhu Cihong, which can be said to be the unity of the army and the people, and they will resist foreign enemies together!

In the major restaurants and teahouses in Beijing, the flow of people exploded every day, and people of insight made generous speeches, slapping the table and scolding the Russians and Kazakhs.

However, at this fierce time, Zhou Peigong, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, spoke in an astonishing manner, questioning the combat effectiveness of the Ming army.

He openly said: "Thousands of years of history have proved that the military strength of a dynasty is the strongest at the beginning of its establishment, and the combat effectiveness of the army is constantly declining with the successive days of peace, and no change in the military strength of a dynasty can escape such a law." ”

"Since the Ming Dynasty went to Japan in the eleventh year of Tianwu and pacified Annan, there have been few soldiers in the past ten years, and most of the veterans who are good at fighting have been discharged.

Zhou Peigong's words aroused the indignation of the military officers and men, and at the same time caused some people to think deeply.

Some people have engaged in heated discussions on this issue, and some gods have even compiled a "Chronology of Chinese Wars" to criticize it.

This chronology counts the five emperors of the legendary era, until the current Tianwu Dynasty, a total of 3,344 wars on a large scale and supported by historical data, and one every year in peace.

Among them, the Ming Dynasty experienced a total of 578 wars in the 276 years from the founding of the country to the accession of Emperor Tianwu, which was higher than the 395 in the Spring and Autumn Period, ranking first among all dynasties!

Moreover, several prosperous times in history, the Yongle prosperous era of the Ming Dynasty topped the list with an average of 1.87 games per year, and Zhu Di, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, launched nearly two wars every year! The reign of Wenjing is only one in five years.

In the twenty years of the Tianwu Dynasty, only a dozen wars have been launched, of course, none of these wars are petty fights, and five of them have been destroyed just by destroying the country, and they are all hard dishes!

Unlike previous dynasties, half of the wars launched were busy quelling peasant uprisings.

After Tianwu pacified Annan in the twelfth year, the Ming Dynasty only used troops against the southwest Tusi once, and maintained the peaceful development for nearly ten years, during which there was no peasant uprising.

Finally, the author of "Chronology of the Wars of the Chinese Dynasties" summarizes and criticizes Zhou Peigong's "theory of inheriting peace and longevity", and borrows a sentence annotated by Cao Cao in the fourth part of the military march of "The Art of War": "Those who are good at fighting have no great merits, and those who are good at doctors have no brilliant name."

In this way, people who are good at fighting do not necessarily have to have brilliant military exploits, and there are many talented people in the Ming army, and they are the ones who support the prestige of the Ming army, eliminate all hidden dangers of war, and make the Ming Dynasty rise to peace all over the world and focus on development.

After Zhu Cihong heard about this, he didn't have time to listen to their nonsense, and ordered Zhou Peigong to be an envoy to go to the northwest to negotiate with the Russian army and drag the Russian army.

At the same time, he ordered the Governor's Office of the Eastern Army and the Governor's Office of the Central Army to reorganize the military war, suspend the commercial use of railways in various provinces, turn them into military use, and collect military food and materials to Jiayuguan.

After more than ten years of development, there are at least two railways in the provinces of Daming Pass, although the train speed is slow, but expensive day and night transportation, can save a lot of time.

However, the army is gathered on all sides, and it is expected that 100,000 people will be dispatched from the pass, and it will take time to prepare horses and silver baggage, and the army will need more than 100,000 horses, which is a huge number, and it will have to be slowly driven to the northwest where there is no railway.

In this national war, Daming is very well prepared, and it is completely in accordance with the scale of the war to destroy the country!

At this time, Zhou Peicheng worked hard to write a manuscript in the house, preparing to send a report to the Confucianism tomorrow, and when he received the will of the palace, the whole person was stunned.

At a time when the two countries are at war, let him go to the northwest to negotiate with Tsarist Russia, and use words to stabilize the Russian army, isn't this sending him to death!

Zhou Peigong spent every day in panic, slapping himself twice from time to time, regretting that he was shocking and cheap.....

Until before leaving, his mentor Yang Shicong saw him off and said to Zhou Pei: "The old man will send you eight words: stabilize the enemy, come back alive, turn over the salted fish, and be prosperous and rich!" ”

After listening to his teacher's words, Zhou Peigong seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw, and his heart that had been hanging for many days finally let go.

After he understood the meaning of these words, he immediately bowed his head, said goodbye to his teacher, and went to the northwest to prepare for a verbal battle with Maozi!

In September of the 19th year of Tianwu, Wang Yuan, the son of Wang Wannian, the Marquis of Anping, was besieged by the British army in Burma, and killed himself in a foreign land.

After Zhu Cihong received the report of the battle on the front line, in addition to being extremely angry, he also began to seriously think about how to face an opponent like Myanmar, which has Western foreign aid, and no longer treat Myanmar as a small state.

In the same month, Zhu appointed Xu Qingshan, Marquis of Pingyang, as the new commander of the Burma Expedition, ordered the closure of the Yunnan border trade, and sent a naval fleet to blockade the coastal areas of Burma and cut off the British East India Company's maritime support.

From the fact that the son of Wang Wannian, the Marquis of Anping, killed himself, Zhu Cihong had a worry, these noble sons and daughters have little war, can they really inherit the will of their ancestors in the future and continue to carry forward the power of the Ming army?

At the beginning of October, Zhu Cihong ordered the prince and the following princes, the sons of the princes, marquis, uncles and other nobles, and those over the age of fifteen, all to go to the Dongyuan hunting ground to hold a royal autumn hunt!