Chongzhen, who put on armor, rode out of the west gate of the horse stretch bridge on the red wind, and the flat terrain on both sides of the official road outside the west gate arrived at the big school field of the Ming army's array.

On the north side of the official road stood 12 cavalry battalions, the full strength of the cavalry battalion was 250 people, and the number of people who were not satisfied was about 200 people. There are 4 battalions of the 1st Cavalry Division, 5 battalions of the 5th Cavalry Division, plus about 3 battalions of cavalry transferred from the Imperial Front Horse Army and Jinyi Guard, totaling about 2,700 people.

Although the number of cavalry is less than 3,000, with more than 5,000 horses, the momentum is even more majestic than that of the 6th Battalion of the 4th Division, which lives on the south side of the official road.

And in between the above two was a battalion of all-firearms infantry lined up in five columns. This was one of the two battalions of infantry, with the Imperial Battalion as the core, plus a battalion transferred from the Sixth Division that remained in the capital, and soldiers selected from the Fourth Cavalry Division who were familiar with firearms.

Both all-firearms battalions are large six-company formations of 125 men per company and 750 men per battalion. Three companies were armed with light arquebuses with bayonets, two were armed with heavy arquebuses, and one was armed with a newly developed flintlock musket.

The soldiers standing in this wilderness are only in their early 7,000s, and the horses are only 15,000 or 6,000 people, but in Zhu Youzhen's sight, this is already a heroic master who can cover the heavens and the earth.

It took me two years of painstaking work to finally train such a new army, but how well this army performs on the battlefield will soon usher in the first test. To be honest, Chongzhen's heart is actually not as confident in the victory of this battle as it seems on the outside.

After coming out of the west gate of Mashen Bridge, Zhu Youzhen beat his horse and walked in front of the soldiers of the battalion. He tilted his head sideways and carefully observed the soldiers, noticing that the expressions on their faces were either nervous, eager to try, or a little uneasy, but almost everyone looked at him with a look of trust.

While Chongzhen regarded this army as his support, these soldiers didn't regard the emperor as their own support. After all, in an era when nationalism has not yet become popular, the idea of loyalty to the monarch is the dominant value of this era.

Walking back to the front of the marching procession, Zhu Youzhen stopped the red wind, glanced at the troops, and then shouted loudly: "Soon, the princes will send troops to the real battlefield, and most of you will face your first battle."

As is customary, I should now promise you something as commander-in-chief. For example, after winning this battle, how much money should I give you? For those who have made special contributions in battle, what kind of official positions will I be rewarded, and so on. ”

Zhu Youzhen paused at this point, thought for a moment before continuing: "But I thought about it for a long time, and I still decided not to do it.

Because in my heart, no matter how much money and no matter how high the official position is, it is not as valuable as the lives of the kings.

I think you deserve more than that. So what can I give you to be worthy of the sacrifice you have made? I thought about it for a long time.

I grew up in the deep palace since I was a child, and I didn't know about the suffering of the people. Since I was literate and educated, I once thought that the world outside the palace was a peaceful and prosperous world of brothers, fathers, sons, neighbors, and people living and working in peace and contentment.

When I grew up a little, I heard that there was a rebellion of Jiannu in the north of the Ming Dynasty, and there was a rebellion in the south of Lunan, and the people everywhere still had the worry of not being clothed and hungry. However, at that time, I still thought that this was just a disease of ringworm, and as long as I worked together and acted in accordance with the laws of my ancestors, I would still be able to return to the peaceful season after all.

It was only when the imperial brother died of a sudden illness that I had to be ordered by the imperial brother to ascend the throne, and I realized that this real Ming was really far from what I imagined in the palace.

For farmers who work hard in the fields, it is a luxury to eat a full meal; The peasant woman who worked hard to raise silkworms and draw silk never wore clothes made of silk; The craftsmen who built countless houses were confined to living in broken grass huts...

Soldiers who defend their homes and countries are not only not respected, but they can't even support their own families; Incompetent people steal high positions, but live a life of fine clothes and fine food...

Law-abiding people are ridiculed, but corrupt people are regarded as capable people. People don't think about good things, but they desperately pursue ugly things.

I don't just have to ask, what's wrong with this world? Someone told me that this is because people's hearts have been corrupted, and that's why the world has collapsed.

But I don't see it that way, I think that the world collapsed first, so the human heart began to corrupt. Why did the world collapse, I thought it was the old rules that went wrong.

It is the old world, which operates under these old rules, that makes it impossible for farmers to eat what they grow; Craftsmen work hard without being properly rewarded; lawbreakers trample on the law; Those who abide by the law are not protected by the law; The soldiers who defend the country can't even protect their own families.

Is all this reasonable? I don't think it's reasonable. The sages once said that the world of Datong is one: the old and the old, and the old people; The young of me, and the young of man. of the world.

The current Ming Dynasty, how can there be any similarity with the Datong world proposed by the sages? Although I don't think that I have the ability to build the Ming Dynasty into the Datong world as the sages said.

But I hope that under my rule, the farmers who work hard will have enough to eat; Hard-working artisans get paid what they deserve; Soldiers who defend their homes and countries can be respected by the state; Perpetrators of violations of the law are duly punished.

All in all, I hope that I can become a society where those who work hard will be rewarded.

Therefore, what I have decided to give you is my ideal. I hope that you will fight side by side with me, for yourselves, for your families, and for your children and grandchildren.

Let's fight together to break this rotten and irrational old world and build a fair and reasonable new world.

So now are you willing to fight side by side with me, Zhu Youzhen? Just start with those enemies today? ”

Chongzhen's voice was not so hoarse, but in this empty field, it magically spread far away. And those soldiers who were too far away from the emperor also understood the content of the emperor's words from the relays of the officers in front of them.

If it is said that on that day in the Beijing University Campus, the emperor inspired the national pride in the blood of the soldiers of the new army. So today, the emperor's words made these soldiers begin to face up to the unfair and unjust things that had happened around them.

In the past, they could only endure such events in silence, believing that they deserved to suffer. After all, those who impose it are all either rich or expensive. It is obviously impossible to get justice from them.

For the people of the Ming Dynasty, if they want to avoid becoming the target of persecution by the powerful, they either attach themselves to the more powerful, or they provide a scholar to change their own fate. As for why these unfair and unjust things can be repeated repeatedly, they really have no time to take care of it.

After joining the New Army, most of the soldiers came from Gyeonggi farming families and military households, and after joining the New Army, in the past two years of training and literacy campaigns, basically everyone can now understand the vernacular articles of the Daming Times.

These soldiers are no longer the ignorant and ignorant villagers in the countryside at the beginning, and they can continue to accept the unfair and unjust events that happened to them without any resistance.

Through continuous cultural and educational learning and the organization of soldiers' committees, these New Army soldiers not only broaden their own knowledge, but also begin to feel a sense of belonging to the Forces nouvelles as a group.

Unlike those officers who want to make a career or get promoted, the soldiers of the New Army simply feel that living in the group of the New Army is a paradise compared to their previous days at home.

Although the training is hard, the food provided by the new army, as well as the cultural and educational and other sports activities organized in the barracks, are completely incomparable with those in the countryside.

For most soldiers, they would prefer to be able to live in the group rather than return home to live like a thoughtless cow and horse. The more extreme soldiers felt that if this were the case, it would be better to die on the battlefield.

Of course, Zhu Youzhen did not know that although the new army he had worked hard to build had not yet made his own voice heard, it had already begun to have some ideas of his own.

If he had a deeper understanding of the history of the late Qing Dynasty, or knew more about the modern history of the world, he would have known that the new army formed at the end of the dynasty has always been the spark of revolution.

If you make them open their eyes to see the reality of the world, and then you want to throw them back into the iron house and continue to sleep until they die, there will always be some people who will get up in anger and try to break the iron house that imprisons them.

Chongzhen's invitation today, for the soldiers of the New Army, undoubtedly found an exit in the iron house that had been depressed for a long time, allowing the New Army to find their dreams.

Smash an old world and build a new one. What a magnificent and great cause this was, and it was also at this moment that the soldiers of the New Army finally no longer regarded Chongzhen as the emperor they were loyal to, but also regarded Chongzhen as a spiritual leader.

The emperor's question was quickly responded to by the soldiers of the new army, and the sound of "willing" one after another made Chongzhen feel like thunder in his ears.

In order to maintain the secrecy of this army's attack, Chongzhen quickly stopped the shouts of the soldiers.

When Chongzhen retreated to the side of the road, Zuo Liangyu, who served as the chief general of this operation, quickly forgot what Chongzhen had just said, which made his heart tremble, and began to order all departments to set off in order.

The men and horses of the 5th Battalion of the 5th Cavalry Division, as the left flank of the army, were the first to set off. The officers and men of each battalion crossed the Mashen Bridge from the official road and then crossed the river. When these officers and soldiers passed by Chongzhen's side, they all automatically saluted, and Chongzhen also stood unwaveringly on his horse.

The men and horses of the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Cavalry Division were the right flank of the army, and the second set off. The 6th Cavalry Division of the 6th Cavalry Division, plus 2 cavalry battalions, followed Zuo Liangyu in the middle and set off for the third. The imperial camp had one infantry battalion and two cavalry battalions, and followed the emperor as the rear guard of the army.

When Wu Huai said goodbye to the emperor before leaving, he couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, are the words you just said a little excessive?" If it is transmitted back to Beijing, I am afraid it will cause an uproar. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at the soldiers passing by his horse and said, "Although I am ready to go to the battlefield, I will not give my life away easily.

Do you think it's better for me to give my life to these new soldiers? Or is it better to hand it over to Cui Zongbing's army? Even if there is any uproar in Beijing, I have to go back to deal with it. If I can't go back, I don't care if he makes a fuss..."