"It's useless, you can't fight in winter, and it's useless to wear thick clothes."

In the military room, the emperor and Xu Guangqi sat on the blanket, the earth dragon in the palace room was very warm, and the emperor changed into a brown trolling board with feet in felt socks and said: "The next march route is Qingping Town in Chahar." ”

Qingping Town is the name changed when Lanyu attacked the Northern Yuan Dynasty, called Yingchang in the Yuan Dynasty, located at the southern end of the Daxing'an Mountains, on the bank of the West Liao River, and later belonged to Duoyanwei under the rule of the Daning Dusi, and now it is the territory of the Chahar Department.

"If the weather is warm, Qingping Town is not a problem, and the army should have looked at the wind in the past, but now that it is cold today, Qi Shuai cannot persuade him to surrender, and the army will be frozen halfway through, so he has to return to Daning."

The emperor pouted and said, "The herdsmen of the tribes attached to Wulianghai said that no matter how thick the clothes are in winter, people will be frozen to death when they march outside. ”

"Especially now, it's getting colder every year."

Xu Guangqi thought so, nodded and said: "When I was a child, it snowed in Songjiang for two or three days, and it snowed for half a month the year before last, and I didn't dare to go out when it was cold. ”

"But this year, Your Majesty has prepared such thick eastern clothes for the Serbian army, presumably they are warmer than the border army in Serbia."

Wanli likes to be complimented, especially when he thinks he has done something worthy of praise, so he smiles with satisfaction, but the smile only lasts for a moment.

He shook his head and said: "I can't give the whole army such winter clothes, I sent nearly 50,000 soldiers and horses out of the customs this year, Qi Shuai's four battalions are the main battle, and the rest of the more than 30,000 soldiers from the Beijing army and seven guards are sent to build roads and transport baggage, and the grain in the back has not yet arrived, and the grain in front has been eaten." ”

"Previously, I purchased more than 20,000 sets of winter clothes, just enough for Qi Shuai's department to wear, and many guards in the back were difficult to prepare for winter.

"I'm not prepared."

The emperor was a little annoyed, he always felt that he was wise and powerful, and he could put any good word on himself, but this time the situation of the plug really made him uncomfortable: "And it's not to blame the head of the military department, it's very annoying." ”

The military department thought about it very well, but it didn't take into account that the emperor wanted not only to conquer, but to actually occupy.

This war is different from the past, and the form of the war has been fundamentally changed.

Since the Tumu Fort, the Ming Dynasty in the face of disasters and financial deficits in the face of the north can only choose passive defense, until the Longqing Emperor can have a little turn to the posture of active defense, in fact, until the Wanli Dynasty is really enough to save up, can go to a positive defense battle.

In the past, it was to defend the enemy within the border, but now it is to defend the enemy outside the border, so Qi Jiguang went to the border to recover the Wuliangha Sanwei, and the fight was very good...... But according to the script prepared by the Ministry of War before the war, Qi Dashuai should have led the army into the customs in triumph.

But the emperor must continue to fight, and he must let Qi Jiguang be stationed in Daning City.

In the words of the official document of the Ministry of War, this is to double the casualties of the army and ten times the consumption of the army.

The casualties are negligible, Qi Jiguang led the army to fight from the south to the north, there were many confrontations and few battles, the casualties were less than 100 people, and it was less than 200 if it doubled, this emperor can bear it, but the consumption is ten times, who can withstand it?

In the original estimate of the Ministry of War, there is no need for the Qi family army to be stationed in Daning City in winter, and since the Wuliang Ha Sanwei has been recovered, let them garrison outside the pass, and they will be greatly injured, even if they rebel again, they can easily solve them next year.

Although this may not be able to bring benefits, but the expenditure will burn more than half, the Qi family army enters the customs, naturally more than 30,000 baggage teams will not be needed, and there is no need to spend the capital and food of the baggage team, let alone road consumption.

The book of war says that the best way to transport baggage is to eat with the enemy, but there is no war and the newly defeated enemy, it is no problem to eat for a day or two, ten days and eight days, and you can't eat for a winter, and there is no tribe in Wulianghai that does not surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

What's more, Wanli didn't think that Qi Jiguang's troops had the ability to attack in winter, like the cotton iron armor he prepared, only 2,200 were sent to Daning City in a complete way, and the Qi family army in the past did not wear the warmest duck down fat jacket, only cotton jackets.

As for the flag army, which was in charge of transportation, the cotton clothes were even more rudimentary.

"But we also have some advantages in the end, the cotton clothes of the barbarian tribes are not as good as my soldiers and horses, and it is very important that they can leave at least a month earlier next year as they expected."

As he spoke, the emperor raised his hand in front of him and said seriously: "But right now, I have something more important to do with you." ”

Xu Guangqi got up and saluted without saying a word, and said, "Please instruct Your Majesty, the minister will definitely do it." ”

Wanli smiled, waved his hand to sit down, and asked, "Don't be so nervous, it's not a big deal, I heard that you smashed the two Huode Xingjun in Tsinghua Garden and installed one on the bird boat?" ”

"Yes." Xu Guangqi's expression was very excited, and even his body leaned forward, and said: "Xiaochen didn't install the second one, but only slightly improved the original steamer of the bird boat, installed a second cylinder, and made it cycle back and forth. ”

Xu Guangqi raised three fingers to the emperor as he spoke, and said, "The speed of the ship is thirty percent faster, Your Majesty." ”

The emperor actually didn't understand much about what it meant to install two cylinders, he was used to seeing Huo De Xingjun as a living thing, and he didn't have the strength to connect another person's arm to this person.

"When the King of Baoding is done, I will go to see it for myself, but now, there are two things that are more important than the ship."

No matter how important the steamship is, the emperor does not plan to take it out and use it before taking the imperial coal mine royal franchise, as long as he does not take it out and use it, it is the emperor's own gadgets on the lake in front of Tsinghua Garden, an hour of forty miles and an hour of fifty miles, there is not much difference to him.

He wouldn't have felt anything if he had been on the boat anyway; If he's in the water, he won't be able to catch up no matter how much he swims.

"I plan to find the king of Baoding and take back his farmland, lease it, and not collect it in vain...... The land is mine, but use his land, and pay him rent, and you will pay it. ”

Xu Guangqi was still happy in front of him, thinking that when the emperor went to Tsinghua Garden to see his achievements, he would definitely praise him, but then he was stunned: "Small, little minister?" Your Majesty, the minister doesn't even have the money to rent a house in Beijing, what can he give to the king of Baoding? ”

"I'll give it to you, I'll have the money."

The emperor told Xu Guangqi very seriously the fact that he had money, and said: "You are going to open two factories, one is a canning factory, to prepare military rations for Qi Shuai's expedition next year; There is also an ironworks, which make rails and iron wheels that meet the specifications. ”

"These two factories, you will keep them on my behalf first, and when the time is right, I will take the seal and seal it for you."

It seems that Xu Guangqi doesn't need to ask, the emperor already knows what he wants to say, and waved his hand: "You can't let the court do it, it doesn't matter who comes, you will be greedy, you can't use the bureaucracy, at least not before the climate." ”