Wu Huai hoped that this unit could become an all-round attack force capable of both near and far, like the cavalry of the Later Jin.

Chongzhen, however, thought that the cost of training an archer was too great. Even if he followed Hou Jin and trained a group of foot archers on horseback, Da Ming couldn't find so many archers who could draw strong bows.

According to the information sent back from Shenyang, even the Houjin themselves, after leaving the fishing and hunting life in the mountains and forests, the bow and arrow level of the soldiers in his clan also dropped sharply, forcing Nurhachi to issue an order requiring the Jurchen people to strengthen the training of bows and arrows.

In recent years, the Jurchen Eight Banners have replenished their troops, preferring to hunt and capture, and the savage Jurchens in the mountains and forests of the northeast regard these savage Jurchens who grew up in the poor mountains and bad waters as the best source of soldiers.

As long as these savages Jurchen armor, weapons, and good horses are given, they are the best warriors. Coupled with women as wives and the distribution of houses, land, grain, and aha to these savages, these savages will become the most loyal servants of the Jurchen nobles.

No matter how hard he trains, he can't catch up with the enemy's armed forces, and Chongzhen is naturally reluctant to throw money into it.

What's more, when muskets and cannons appeared, the archers, the most brilliant arms played by the Mongols, were about to come to an end.

Although before the Industrial Revolution was completed, cavalry still played a huge role on the battlefield. However, the cavalry's combat methods began to return to hand-to-hand combat. Speed and organizational discipline will lay the foundation for the emergence of cavalry in modern times.

With this preconceived idea, Chongzhen rejected the opinions of Wu Huai and other military attachés, and boldly proposed to establish a purely hand-to-hand combat melee cavalry, and hand over long-range strikes to artillery units.

Under Chongzhen's stubbornness, in the end, this cavalry unit was formed in accordance with the emperor's orders.

And when he saw the bill for equipping the new cavalry wing, he understood why these officers were so opposed to the new cavalry formation and new tactics he proposed.

In any era, the army is an expensive and wear-out necessity, and just as a horse is worth a BMW in modern times, it is not an exaggeration to say that a cavalry unit is made of silver.

Such an expensive military naturally makes senior officials tend to be conservative, preferring to use old tactics that have proven to be proven to be reliable rather than risk using new tactics that have not been proven.

After all, with predictable losses and uncontrollable victories, for a country of the size of the Ming Dynasty, choosing the former is the safest way. The use of never-ending manpower and material resources to grind the enemy to death was the most orthodox method of warfare of the agrarian dynasty that occupied the Central Plains.

Under Chongzhen's expectation, the cavalry phalanx lined up in 10 columns passed in front of Dianjiangtai from west to east.

There are two horses between these cavalry phalanxes every 5 rows, although there are only more than 1,500 people, but from the direction of Chongzhen, the endless cavalry phalanx marches, as if it will never be finished.

The phrase "a thousand people, boundless" is undoubtedly the most appropriate to describe the cavalry queue in front of you. At Chongzhen's suggestion, the uniform cloak issued to these cavalrymen, red on the outside and black on the inside, supported the heroic posture of this cavalry unit.

The eyes of everyone standing on the podium were a little straight, although the Beijing camp used to drill every year in response to the ceremony of the emperor sending officials to parade the army. It's just a matter of getting a few more colored flags, and then choosing some tall and handsome strong men to stand at the forefront in freshly wiped armor, and make a lively scene of a lot of people.

And the army in front of him, except for a few flags representing the brigade, has no extra colored flags as decoration.

This army came over in such a neat line, and did not shout any words of long live my emperor. However, the red cloak and the armor of the same standard have a scorching momentum.

Among the cadres on the stage, only Chongzhen's expression was the most natural, and he subconsciously shook his head while watching the cavalry pass under the stage, and seemed to be quite dissatisfied.

Yu Zhigao, the governor of the Gyeonggi Governor's Mansion, who was standing beside him and was quite dry-mouthed, accidentally observed the emperor's appearance, and involuntarily asked carefully: "Your Majesty, do you think there is anything wrong?" ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded, and while looking at the cavalry queue below, he replied in a low voice: "This queue is still not neatly practiced." ”

Sun Chengzong, Yu Zhigao, Wu Huai and other military attachés standing next to the emperor subconsciously looked at the cavalry queue under the stage, and in their eyes, they couldn't figure out what was wrong with this cavalry queue. “

Wu Huai asked quite unwillingly, "Dare to ask Your Majesty, what is wrong with it?" ”

Only then did Zhu Youzhen come back to his senses, turned his head to look at the officials around him, smiled and said: "It seems that I am more demanding, in my opinion, even if I can't let these horses straddle the same leg together, at least from the side, there should be only one figure called neat." ”

Chongzhen's words immediately stunned the officials around him, and after a short while, Wu Huaicai said with a smile: "Your Majesty said that it was a joke, let a platoon of cavalry walk such a long way, and you can ensure that only one figure can be seen from the side, and it is estimated that it is difficult for the gods to do it." ”

Chongzhen just smiled at him and stopped talking about the topic, and everyone was once again immersed in watching the queue move forward.

The first to appear in the audience was a brigade of lance-wielding cavalry, followed by two large groups of saber cavalry, and finally a squadron of cavalry artillery, followed by a small group of cavalry in completely different attire from the front.

"Why hasn't this cavalry changed their equipment?" Zhu Youzhen immediately asked Wu Huai beside him.

Wu Huai glanced at it and said: "Back to Your Majesty, this small group of cavalry does not belong to the cavalry wing, they are the cadets of the reconnaissance subject of the Army Military Academy, that is, the night non-collection troops of the border army before.

The base camp asked them to conduct reconnaissance operations on the Datong front, which was temporarily included in the establishment of our cavalry wing.

Zhu Youzhen nodded with relief, and his gaze immediately turned to several guns in the cavalry artillery squadron.

"What about the performance of these guns? How many sizes are there? Zhu Youzhen asked with some curiosity.

Wu Huai also glanced at these artillery, and he replied disappreciatively: "After discussing with the General Staff and the Ordnance Superintendent, they finally chose two specifications of artillery.

One is the exterminator cannon, the cannon body plus the gun truck more than 300 catties, with a catty of lead bullets, can reach 2-3 hundred meters.

The other is the Fran machine gun, the gun body plus the gun truck about 1,000 catties, with four catties of lead bullets, can reach more than 500 meters.

Your Majesty, this exterminator cannon is just that, this Franco cannon is cumbersome, and the range is not much, so it is really not suitable for cavalry. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at him before he said with a smile: "Although this artillery squadron is organized in your cavalry wing, it does not mean that it is the role of assisting the cavalry unit.

You have to take a long-term view, maybe in the future we will develop artillery more suitable for cavalry, and maybe in the future this artillery unit will be independent from the cavalry establishment.

The current formation of the cavalry wing is just an experiment, and it does not mean that it will not be allowed to change in the future..."

When all the cavalry had assembled in the designated area under the stage, the parade also came to the last scene.

Chongzhen took over a flag from Lian Shanxiang behind him, and then handed it to Wu Huai, who walked back in front of him after stepping down, and completed the flag awarding ceremony for this cavalry wing.

Although each army of the Ming Dynasty has its own flags, there are also flags issued by the Ministry of War for commanding the army. However, it was the first time that the emperor personally issued a military flag to represent the existence of his own troops.

Being able to receive the honor of being the first to be awarded the flag by the emperor, Wu Huai was also excited. The style of the military flag in his hand was very simple, not embroidered with dragons, tigers and other patterns, but embroidered with a golden star on the bright red silk flag.

But Wu Huai didn't feel simple at all, but felt that this pattern was very simple and generous. After carefully looking at the flag in his hand, an idea suddenly popped up, and he impulsively said to Chongzhen: "Since Your Majesty has awarded the Cavalry Wing the military flag, then Please also ask Your Majesty to give the name of this wing." ”

Chongzhen was obviously stunned, and Yuan Chonghuan, who was standing behind him, suddenly reprimanded: "Rude, a mere cavalry wing, is it worthy of being named by Your Majesty..."

For Yuan Chonghuan, he didn't like the appearance of an army with a special relationship with the emperor in the troops he was about to command.

If there was an accident with this unit on the battlefield, even if he won the final victory, but he lost the army that the emperor personally named and awarded the flag, would the emperor have no idea about him?

Wu Huai couldn't help but shrink his head, he was still afraid of this high-ranking official who had served as the governor of Liaodong.

Zhu Youzhen suddenly smiled and said, "What's this, isn't it just a name, I'll give you one." First, it is called the First Cavalry Wing, and in addition to the fact that you are the first to establish a new cavalry, I also hope that you can strive for the first place in everything. ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the name." Wu Huai immediately bowed his head and thanked the emperor when he saw it, and took a few steps back, turned to face the cavalry under the stage and announced the name given by the emperor to this unit.

The cavalrymen, who had been feeling a little excited and inexplicable today, finally couldn't hold back their joy and cheered at the emperor on the stage.

According to the procedure, before the end of the parade, Chongzhen also had to give a speech to the army below to agitate for the march.

After Zhu Youzhen finished speaking according to the proposed speech, he looked at the soldiers below who were eagerly looking at him, and couldn't help but feel a little weak.

"I don't know how many more people will be able to return to themselves after these people go to war." He couldn't help but think of it in his heart.