On the morning of the fifth day of the winter month, the snow is clear, but the weather is still cold, the air is foggy, the shouting and killing outside the city of Tai'an soars into the sky, under the rising sun, the guards of the Ming army are in full swing in the open space in front of the camp.

In fact, during the siege of Tai'an City for more than 20 days, as long as the weather was not particularly bad, Xu Jin would ask the generals of each guard to organize soldiers to practice at night, after all, sweating more in peacetime will lead to less blood in wartime. What's more, if the soldiers are allowed to do nothing in the battalion every day, they will inevitably lose their fighting spirit and even cause trouble after a long time.

Under an open gentle slope two miles south of Tai'an City, hundreds of war horses galloped back and forth when they saw the dust flying. The three main and deputy commanders of the cavalry, Wang Lin'er, Xie Erjian, and Qi Jingtong, were leading their five hundred horsemen to conduct slashing training, while Xu Jin was surrounded by a group of brocade guards, standing on the slope to watch the training.

Although the cavalry is small in number, it is a big killer in the army, equivalent to the armored force in modern times, and it can determine the victory or defeat of the battle at critical moments, so Xu Jin attaches great importance to this cavalry army, not only in terms of resource supply, but also arranges all the eleven personal soldiers in the past into the cavalry army and becomes the backbone of it.

This cavalry is full of a total of 500 people, just 50 cavalry per personal soldier, the military position is still 100 households, Wang Lin'er is old and steady, serving as the commander of the entire cavalry army, the military position is still 1,000 households, Xie Erjian is the deputy commander of the cavalry, and the military position is still the deputy thousand households.

In addition, Qi Jingtong was demoted to the deputy commander of the cavalry, and his military position was promoted from the original nine-rank inspection to the deputy thousand households (from the fifth grade), and he was directly promoted several levels, because whether it was Qufu, Surabaya, Xintai, or the battle of Laiwu, Qi Jingtong made great contributions, but he could afford it. Of course, Qi Jingtong's thousand households were only temporarily promoted by Xu Jin, and it had to be approved by the Ministry of War to be truly implemented. Although the Qincha can act cheaply, he does not have the right to directly promote and promote officers, and he still has to go through the procedures of the Ministry of War, but it is generally approved in the end.

The content of today's training of the cavalry is to slash and kill, 30 chaotic wooden stakes are erected within a distance of 100 meters, and the cavalry must cut more than 20 when passing at high speed to be qualified, pay attention, it is to be cut, otherwise there is no food to eat at noon, if the afternoon training is not passed, then there is no dinner to eat, the weather is cold and hungry for a day and a night, this taste is not pleasant, so at this time the young men of the cavalry are training with their lives.

"Good!"

At this time, a young cavalryman in his early twenties galloped over and cleanly cut down twenty-five wooden stakes with thick bowl mouths, which instantly attracted a round of applause, and Xu Jin couldn't help nodding.

Jinyi Wei Qianhu Lu Song exclaimed: "It's good, if our army has such combat power, I'm afraid it will not be much better than the cavalry of the Tartars." ”

Jin Baihu shook his head and said: "I'm afraid it's still inferior, my subordinates have been to the border and seen with their own eyes the majesty of the Tartar cavalry when they charged, it was simply a landslide and a crack...... Alas, my subordinates don't know how to describe it, anyway, if our cavalry is tough and tough with the Tartars in the wilderness, I'm afraid they will only be slaughtered. ”

Jin Baihu showed a look of memory, and there was still a trace of fear in his eyes, as if the past was still vivid.

"Jin Baihu, this is too exaggerated, the cavalry of the Tartars is really so powerful, why was they beaten by Emperor Taizu back then, and finally escaped to the desert!" A brocade guard retorted unconvinced.

Jin Baihu pouted and said: "You know a fart, then Emperor Taizu's elite soldiers are like clouds, our cavalry is indeed not much weaker than the Tartars, plus there are sharp firearms to cooperate, this is the battle to win, if the cavalry is really a head-on battle, we can't take advantage."

Xie Deputy Qianhu's riding skills are powerful enough, he can stand on the back of a galloping horse and shoot a bow, I am afraid it will be difficult to find a second person in my Ming army, but there must be many people in the Tartars who can do it, these guys can shoot a bow and arrow even if they ride on a bare horse without a saddle, we have to change it, hey, let alone shoot arrows with a bow, can you burn high incense without falling. ”

As soon as these words came out, the surrounding Jinyi guards were silent.

Xu Jin frowned, the Mongols are nomadic people, both men and women grew up on horseback, and they have been accompanied by horses since they were young, so they rode ** Zhan, and the children of the Mongolian people are excellent cavalrymen once they grow up. The cavalry of the Ming army was trained after enlistment, and the combat power of the horse was naturally far inferior to that of the Mongolian cavalry, no matter how much they trained, the level of cavalry and archery was difficult to reach the level of others.

Fortunately, the Ming army could make up for the shortcomings with advantages in equipment, such as firearms.

When Xu Jin read the history of the Ming Dynasty in his previous life, he learned that the "Southern Japanese and Northern Captives" had always been the two major problems that plagued the Ming Dynasty, especially in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Japanese and the Tatars in the north had become two major problems in the Ming Dynasty. During the Jiajing period, there was even an incident in which Altan Khan's soldiers besieged the city of Beijing, which almost killed Emperor Jiajing and the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty. Fortunately, Altan Khan did not have the ambition to overthrow the Ming Dynasty, nor did he have that appetite, he just wanted to force the Ming rulers to open up border trade, so he plundered and withdrew from the Guanwai.

Xu Jin naturally did not want to see this kind of humiliating historical event happen again in the Ming Dynasty, whether it was national emotion or private emotion.

Therefore, Jin Baihu's words reminded Xu Jin that if he wanted to avoid "Altan Khan's soldiers besieging the capital", it was necessary to solve the Tartars in the north of the Ming Dynasty, and to solve the Tartar problem, the Ming army had to have overwhelming military strength.

Xu Jin felt that it was obviously unrealistic to build an iron cavalry with a combat power better than that of the Tartars, but he could make a fuss about weapons. If you have an army equipped with modern guns, the number of people is not large, and it is estimated that 5,000 people will be able to sweep the entire Guanwai, of course, this is obviously a dream.

However, modern automatic rifles can't be made, but flintlock pistols that are more advanced than firecrackers are estimated to be able to do, and as for arquebuses, although they are also more advanced than firecrackers, they are also garbage that cannot be used when it comes to rainy days, so it is necessary to build flintlock pistols.

Xu Jin decided that after returning to Beijing this time, he would discuss with the little emperor Zhu Houxi about making a flintlock pistol, as for the drawings of the flintlock pistol, as early as in Jiangxi, Xu Jin had drawn it, if it was not illegal to make firearms privately, he would have found a craftsman to build it himself.

After Xu Jin watched the cavalry training, he then returned to the tent, and today he summoned the main generals of the guards to a meeting to discuss the attack on Tai'an City tomorrow. It's not that he really wants to attack, it's just a tentative attack, and now that the siege has been more than twenty days, Xu Jin wants to test the state of the defenders in the city, consume the defenders' supplies and further hit the morale of the defenders.

Xu Jin calmly walked into the handsome tent, and the generals were already waiting in the big tent, and when they saw Xu Jin, they all saluted one after another, and said, "See Lord Qincha." ”

Although Xu Jin was young, and there was even a small fluff on his lips that had not faded, the generals present did not dare to underestimate this stinky kid.

After several victories in a row, Xu Jin's prestige in the army has become increasingly popular, and he has been completely recognized by all the soldiers, and Xu Jin's iron-blooded methods of cutting corrupt officials and White Lotus Sect prisoners have made the generals respect and fear him.

Xu Jin nodded and said, "All the soldiers are exempt, huh?" Commander Yuan didn't arrive? ”

Xu Jin glanced at the generals present, and found that Yuan Yi, the commander of Jinan Wei, was not there, and immediately frowned.

Jinan Wei Commander Tongzhi Fang Shizhen hurriedly said cautiously: "Back to Lord Qincha, Commander Yuan's father is seriously ill, so he rushed home to visit last night, and specially asked his subordinates to take a leave of absence from Lord Qincha!" ”

Xu Jin's face was slightly gloomy, his impression of Yuan Yi, the commander of Jinan Wei, was very bad, this guy looked like a treacherous man who was accustomed to disobeying the yang and the yin, before the battle of Xintai, he ordered him to lead the Jinan guards to Tai'an City to contain Wang Tang, but this guy stopped when he arrived in Liubu Town, and he continued to lead his troops south until he won the battle.

"The dynasty rules the world with filial piety, and Commander Yuan is a model of filial piety, but since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety are difficult to achieve, both leading the army outside, the current situation of the enemy, as the highest commander of the first guard, how can he leave his post without permission!" Xu Jin said coldly: "Inform Yuan Yi and let him stay in Jinan to take care of his father, so that he will not return to the army, Fang Tongzhi will temporarily be under your command of Jinan Wei." ”

Fang Shizhen chuckled in his heart, and said with sincere fear: "My subordinates receive orders." ”

The other generals present were silent, although Xu Jin did not directly say how to deal with Yuan Yi, but it is estimated that there is no good fruit to eat, and the destruction of Tai'an City is a matter of time, this was originally a low-hanging fruit, and now it is definitely not Yuan Yi's share. Yuan Yi didn't know that he had set up the wrong tendon, he ran home at this juncture, and he didn't ask Lord Qincha for leave beforehand, and he clearly didn't put Qincha in his eyes, if he changed his temper, it would not be too much to order someone to arrest him back and ask him for guilt.

Xu Jin's expression quickly regained his composure, and beckoned the crowd to continue the meeting, and after the meeting, he called Jin Baihu to him and instructed: "Jin Baihu, you send a few brothers to Jinan to investigate whether Yuan Yi's father is seriously ill, and report back after the investigation is clear." ”

Jin Baihu happily retreated as soon as he promised, and Jin Yiwei was the best at investigating the private affairs of officials.

Xu Jin picked up the teacup and took a sip, he is not an unreasonable person, if Yuan Yi's father is indeed seriously ill, he naturally does not plan to pursue it, if it is just an excuse, then I'm sorry, Yuan Yi, the hereditary commander, can be regarded as the end, with his current identity Xu Jin, as long as a letter is impeached, Yuan Yi's official position will still be smashed.

At this time, Yuan Yi, the commander of Jinan Wei, did not know that he was going to lose his official position, and he was rushing to the town guard Zhongguan station in the eastern suburbs of Jinan City with one person, asking to see Luo Xiang, the eunuch of Shandong Town.