Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 372 Times have changed
A huge circular racecourse with a very large open space in the middle and a large earthen slope around it.

Of course, the venue for the Tongliao competition had been selected in advance.

The conditions are now simple and the opening ceremony seems more like the Ming Dynasty showing off its power.

Before getting drunk yesterday, Changsheng Tianhan said frankly: The Ming Dynasty still needs to show you all its current strength. This will help everyone face reality and change their mindset towards each other.

Then, in the hall where the emperor, princes of foreign vassal states, and important civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty sat, the famous telescope appeared in front of Lindan Batur, Buyanggu, Manggusi and others.

"You can see it clearly right in front of you." Zhu Changluo gestured, "It's a long journey, and I only brought four of these standing telescopes. You can take a look at them one by one."

After that, he took out a handheld gun and looked into the distance: "Fire the cannon, start."

We waved our flags as ordered, and after a while the sound of war drums was heard in the distance.

A dull voice was heard. Lindan Batur first looked at Zhu Changluo, only to see that he was concentrating on looking into the distance through the telescope, and didn't seem to care that they were getting close to the other four telescopes.

So he made up his mind and walked over, and when he looked forward, his heart trembled.

The Ming artillery formation on the top of the opposite hillside was clearly visible. He moved his eyes away and glanced into the distance, but with his eyesight he could not see anyone there.

He looked at Zhu Changluo again, only to see that he was looking at the center of the field. Lindan Batur followed his line of sight and saw Yuan Keli, who had blocked him on the west bank of the Daling River, walked over and said with a smile: "Prince Yuan Shun, you can move the telescope and look at the target."

After that, he helped him adjust the angle of the telescope. When Lindan Batur looked over again, he saw a white circle in the center of the venue.

A moment later, the sound of cannon fire was heard, followed by smoke and dust rising from the white circle.

Lindan Batur saw clearly that not all the shots were within the white circle, some were outside the circle.

"We hit the enemy from above, the distance is less than three miles." Yuan Keli shook his head and sighed, "Although the old-fashioned tiger squat cannon is easy to carry, its power and accuracy are still far inferior to the Mingwei cannon."

Lindan Batur looked at his dissatisfied expression silently.

Last night, the "King of Bohai" and others by the campfire talked about a battle outside the city of Hetuala. They had already surrendered to the Jianzhou Jurchens and were in the city of Hetuala at the time. The details naturally frightened everyone.

Several miles away, the cannon accurately hit the top of his head. Nurhaci was hit by a cannon when he was still motionless, but fortunately he was lucky and did not die on the spot.

Then he mounted his horse and marched forward, but was still hit by two accurate cannons while moving. Even if he was lucky, he was no better than the Mingwei cannon that could really kill him.

Now Lindan Batur knows, mainly because of this telescope. You can't see others, but others can see everything you do...

Now the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty openly let them see the telescope.

No one would be so tactless as to ask Daming at this time: Can this thing be sold?

They understood why iron tools would not be banned in the future. After all, the Ming Dynasty's guns and cannons could shoot farther and more accurately than before.

But this telescope... even if there is no matching firearm that can hit the enemy from a long distance, using it to spy on the enemy is already a magical weapon. How could the Ming Dynasty sell it to them?

After nine rounds of cannon fire, the foreign envoys who were watching the game on the side in front of the hall could already see with their naked eyes: there was a small area on the grass in the middle, with exposed soil and a devastated scene.

Then there was a loud shout from the Xingdian: "The border troops are entering the arena to be inspected by His Majesty the Emperor!"

The cavalry that first appeared on the top of the southern hillside numbered about five hundred.

Then came the thousand-strong infantry, divided into two parts. The latter half seemed to be just a ceremonial guard, all holding banners.

In this way they moved down the slope from the south.

Now there are people standing in front of the four telescopes. Except for Lindan Batur, Oba of Khorchin and Manggusi each occupy one, and the remaining one is snatched by Boshoketu.

They were looking at the general's flag.

There was no need for them to figure it out; the distance was not far. When they got closer, they started shouting on their own.

"Wei Liaobo, Liaodong General Sun Shoulian leads the Ningguo Iron Cavalry Battalion to review!"

Sun Shoulian was very excited and was awarded the title of baron for his meritorious service in one battle. The emperor specially named the Liaodong Iron Cavalry established by Li Chengliang as the Ningguo Iron Cavalry Camp, so that his name could be passed down. This is the attitude of rewarding those who have made contributions and trusting and respecting military officials.

Now, he is going to take over Li Chengliang's mantle and become the new commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town.

In the eyes of the grassland tribes, the Ming cavalry was just so-so.

But things are getting more and more different, because their spirit is different. Now they have better pastures, future war horses, and manpower...

Not to mention, the weapons in the hands of this cavalry are all muskets.

Fortunately, the musket can only be fired slowly, and it is even more difficult to reload immediately...

Bu Shitu and Lindan Batur were thinking about the new musket.

Next came Du Song, who came with the 500-strong standard-bearing battalion of Ma Gui, the Left Commander-in-Chief of the Left Army of the Ming Dynasty and Marquis of Xiliang, to receive the review.

But now everyone can see clearly that the last 500 people are not ordinary soldiers, but meritorious officials and military generals.

Each of them held his own flag in his hand.

The one walking in front was Yu Zigao.

Zhu Changluo handed the telescope to Liu Ruoyu who was standing beside him, and slowly walked to the front of the wooden platform in front of the hall.

"This battle will go down in history! Your names will be recorded in history!"

He shouted loudly, and then there was only the sound of "Great Ming will win" from below.

Zhu Changluo raised his hand to suppress it, and then shouted loudly: "I asked you to come here today, first, to praise you in person! Second, to let you all see what kind of weapons you can use in the future! All generals, listen to my order, stand on both sides! Xiliang Hou, set up the target, and practice the Nine Thunder Gun!"

Hearing the noise in the distance and seeing the flag signals over there, a group of people in the Ma Gui Standard Battalion who did not participate in the review immediately spoke up.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Follow me!"

Each person carried a piece of wood with the outline of a person's upper body without hands sawn into it, and a wooden stick underneath.

A total of one hundred people rushed into the venue carrying the target. There was a white line made of lime on the grass, which was the place for them to insert the target.

Lindan Batur had heard the new name of the Nine Thunder Gun. His heart tightened and he looked at the places where the targets were standing.

In the near distance, the generals of the Ming Dynasty were already standing on both sides with their flags, and in the middle were four rows of five hundred infantrymen.

There were a hundred people in each row, and another hundred people carried a lot of boxes from the army formation coming over from the side.

Lindan Batur had managed to aim the telescope at the four rows. After careful observation, he discovered that the muskets held by the people in the last row were obviously different.

Now they were continuing to take new things out of the box and making preparations, such as packing the musket.

A moment later, a shout was heard from below: "Your Majesty, the targets have been set, and the Nine Thunder Gunners are waiting for orders to practice!"

"let's start."

Zhu Changluo nodded. This was the change arranged by Ma Gui.

To reflect the contrast.

Therefore, the first three rows are still bird-gun soldiers, while the fourth row is nine-thunder-gun soldiers.

The target was stationary, so the drill could begin as soon as they were ready. First, the musket soldiers, familiar to all tribes, were divided into three rows, filling the gunpowder bags and bullets, loading the primers, lighting the fuses, and taking turns firing.

Only the last row of new-style musketeers did nothing.

They just waited quietly as the musketeers in front of them fired three bullets each, making a total of nine rounds of shooting.

At this moment, the fourth row suddenly rushed out of their queue in a disorderly manner, and then the sound of untidy gunfire suddenly appeared on the field.

Even the Ming generals who were watching could not help but look at this chaotic tactic.

However, they were not completely disorganized. They worked in groups of several people, clearly trying to find their positions before firing the Nine Thunder Guns in their hands.

What was extremely surprising was that no one was seen loading gunpowder or bullets. On the contrary, the chaotic sound of gunfire in the field, in terms of frequency, was even more frequent and continuous than the previous three hundred bird gun soldiers firing in turns.

Lindan Batur saw it clearly through the telescope. His hands were shaking slightly and cold sweat was coming out on his forehead.

Sun Shoulian, who was standing at the side of the field, had brighter eyes than anything else. The deputy general beside him even had a trembling voice: "My Lord! If our Iron Cavalry Battalion could use this kind of gun... it would be better than the Nine Thunder Gun..."

Of course Sun Shoulian understood.

He had already seen that these Nine Thunder Gunners only needed to pull a thing on the gun and then concentrate on aiming and firing.

Right now they were pretending to attack the position, and Marquis Xiliang wanted them all to watch: the Nine Thunder Gun Soldiers did not have to try to form a battle formation to defend and wait for attack like they did in the previous gun and spear formations.

If the firepower is sufficient and it is easy to kill the enemy while marching, wouldn't this thing be more suitable for cavalry? Just imagine, riding a horse at full speed, and being able to kill the enemy with this Nine Thunder Gun that shoots faster than a bird gun even though they are so far away, wouldn't that be like chopping melons and vegetables?
Each of the bird-gun soldiers only fired three bullets, but these nine-thunder-gun soldiers fired as they marched, and it seemed as if the sound of the guns could continue forever.

"This...this..." Zhang Shenwu asked Yu Zigao excitedly, "Sir, is this the military industrial park..."

"That's right!" Yu Zigao's eyes turned red. "It looks like it's been made... What a pity..."

If he had this earlier, his Tianshu Camp wouldn't have been...

But now, this new gun with fixed bullets, breech loading and percussion flintlock is only used to deter the northern invaders after the war situation has been settled.

This deterrent effect was achieved.

In front of the four telescopes, on the wooden platform in front of the hall, the powerful leaders of various tribes were all sweating profusely.

As if it was endless, the hundred men rushed towards the target, and the sound of gunfire never stopped.

They could only see the human-shaped targets teetering on the edge of collapse. Although there were only a few targets, how many would have fallen if they were living people?
Those Nine Thunder Gun Soldiers were divided into several different groups. Since they could shoot from this direction, they could naturally also shoot in other directions.

And if one person can match several Ming Dynasty firearms soldiers, then such a team should not be just one hundred, but one thousand, three thousand, or ten thousand...

If I ride a horse again...

"Great Ming will win! Great Ming will win! Great Ming will win!"

On the other side of the hill in front of the hall were representatives of the Ming border troops and some civilians who had moved to the border.

Seeing the Ming army showing off their might, everyone knew what this meant as long as someone who knew a little about military affairs explained it briefly.

Having this magical weapon means that foreign tribes will be terrified and that the new border of the Ming Dynasty will be extremely stable.

The drill ended with the Nine Thunder Gunners pulling out the targets, running back to the front of the hall and holding them high.

Zhu Changluo looked at the wooden targets covered with bullet holes and praised loudly, "Well done! Xiliang Hou knows military skills. This Nine Thunder Gun is well used and brilliantly used!"

"This is my duty, and I do not deserve your praise! It is your majesty's ingenuity that allowed the Ming Dynasty to obtain this magic gun!"

"The king and his subjects are united in protecting the country and the people!" Zhu Changluo waved his hand, "Pack up and have the warriors from all participating tribes line up to enter the arena!"

The next part was the competition. Zhu Changluo looked at the dignitaries of various tribes, smiled and said, "What I said yesterday was true, wasn't it? I will not use such sharp weapons to fight against you again. The so-called martial arts is to stop the war. This does not mean that you should not use force, but to let you know that the Ming Dynasty has the ability to stop the war. This is the martial virtue. To talk about martial virtue is to have the ability to win by force, but not to win by force, but to win by virtue!"

"...Eternal Heavenly Khan is so magnanimous and kind, I admire him..."

In the face of the Ming Dynasty's latest display of martial virtue, they had no choice but to admit defeat.

His logic was self-consistent, and he clearly told everyone that the Ming Dynasty did not actually use its full strength.

So this alliance is serious.

As long as everyone gives up the idea of ​​being an enemy of the Ming Dynasty and listens to the Ming Dynasty, then the promise we swore to heaven yesterday will be true.

If they don't offend the Ming Dynasty, these weapons will not be used against them.

If they attack the Ming Dynasty again, the heads of Nurhaci and others who woke them up from their drunkenness at the last moment last night will serve as an example.

Today's Nine Thunder Guns officially announced that they were in a completely different realm from the Ming Dynasty ruled by the various tribes.

Looking at those eager and covetous people on the Ming frontier, they should be grateful to the Khan Changshengtian. It was he who first set the rules, and it was he who would suppress the greed of the Ming northern border troops.

Otherwise, if they wanted to, how much power would the various departments have to fight back?
"Next, let's enjoy the skills of the men of all tribes!" Zhu Changluo sat down. "I've taken out real money this time. Horse racing, strength competition, archery, running... I think these competitions are better than fighting for life and death on the battlefield. Liu Ruoyu, bring the gold, silver, copper rings and the winner's certificate to the princes for them to see."

"Yes."

Everyone saw the emperor's attendant taking out a tray from the hall.

"This was made by the skilled craftsmen of my silver workshop. See, there are words engraved on it..."

Of course, the words are only engraved in Chinese. On the gold ring you are holding now, there are the words "The Bravest in Archery", and on the other side there are the words "The Ninth Year of Taichang".

The banner was a roll of silk cloth, with words written on it and a seal on it when it was unfolded.

"Stamped with the seals of the rulers of various countries, these two items, once won, can be passed down to the family!" Zhu Changluo looked at them with a smile, "After the top three in each competition are decided, we will see which warrior will receive the reward. Then you can go with me to personally present the award to encourage them. How do you think?"

"Very good, very good..."

Zhu Changluo looked at the participating teams entering the venue in the distance wearing jackets of different colors, then looked at the hillsides on both sides and waved.

"In the future, this competition will be made into a grand event in the northern border! Next time, I will have people build a big stadium, and the rich and powerful people from all tribes can come here to watch the game. During the competition, it will be a border trade fair, and rare treasures from all over the world will gather here. The heroes from all over the world will come to see which warrior has won what glory. The events of this competition can also continue to increase..."

He was talking about his vision for this kind of sports meeting. At this moment, the nobles from other tribes could only feel the difference between the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and them.

He seemed to have an endless supply of clever ideas.

But in fact, what they felt most deeply was that Changsheng Tian Khan did not treat them as barbarians, but looked upon them as superior.

This feeling may even be felt when facing the civil and military officials and ordinary people of the Ming Dynasty.

But not now.

At least... I have never heard of any emperor of the Ming Dynasty being able to get along well with these foreign leaders...

"How is it?" Zhu Changluo put his arm around Lindan Batur's shoulders and pointed at the edge of the wooden platform in front of the hall, then patted his shoulder. "Would you like to bet on which group gets the most rings this time?"

"...Eternal Heavenly Khan is in a good mood, so I will naturally accompany you..."

"Come on, come on, all of you can join in!" Zhu Changluo was very excited. "Don't accuse me of bullying. After all, the competition will be held by the Ming Dynasty. So, let's bet on who among you can win the most rings, except for the Ming Dynasty warriors!"

Yuan Keli looked at the emperor who wanted to turn them into gamblers with both laughter and tears.

Is this good?
(End of this chapter)