Bright Spring

In the large area south of Yunnan Fucheng, although Lin’an, Yuanjiang and other prefectures are located, there are very few Han people; in the vast area of ​​Yunnan’s chief minister, less than 100 million Han people are mostly concentrated in a few big cities and nearby area.There are chieftains and native villages everywhere in the south.

For the rest of June, we have not yet reached the battlefield.Zhu Gaoxu was also happy with his place. Along the way, he saw villages with different styles and lived in tile-roofed houses, wooden houses, and thatched houses.

The government of the Ming Dynasty can only directly manage the cities, and even the officials from the interior hardly go to the county towns, and it is rare to see Han officials on these native lands.

However, most of the natives are still very hospitable. After all, there are a large number of soldiers in the Ming army with weapons in their hands.

When people found that the officers and soldiers were just passing by and did not burn, kill or loot, they also offered kind hospitality.At night, the soldiers often watched the natives light the bonfire and sing and dance. Everyone was drinking and singing, which was very joyful.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't wear the clothes of the prince at all, but only wore military uniforms and iron hats with wide brims. The local people along the road couldn't recognize him as the prince.Because he is always surrounded by a group of guards, the common people only know that he is a powerful general.This saves some risk.

The Ming court did not distinguish between ethnic groups, only Han and barbarian groups, so Zhu Gaoxu didn’t know what ethnic groups he had seen, he only knew that they had tribal names such as the Luo’an tribe, the Zuoneng tribe, and the Waza tribe. Their leader is a local official, and they choose a name according to the transliteration of the local dialect to make records easily.

When the army arrived in Yuanjiang Prefecture, many tribes were dressed in similar language, with cloth wrapped around their heads and dark homespun clothes.A native official of a tribe had some insight, saw the gold and gemstones inlaid on Zhu Gaoxu's scabbard, and the brightly colored waxy ice jadeite jade pendant, and introduced his daughter.

Only then did Zhu Gaoxu experience another kind of attire. It turned out that the wealthy natives really like silver jewelry. No wonder the Meng Yangsi family only wanted silver, and even copper coins were the next best thing.The young lady's hat was almost all silver, and she was wearing a white fur dress, she was a bit delicate and lovely.

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu felt that it was a kind of prejudice that he thought that native women were not good-looking.I hardly saw any beautiful women along the road, but it was because many native girls were exposed to the wind and sun, and the living environment was not very good, so their skin was dark.Like everyone in the world, Zhu Gaoxu likes girls with fair skin.

Zhu Gaoxu and the young lady dressed in silver gesticulated and communicated for a while, but they couldn't understand the language, so they could only look at me and I looked at you.He didn't ask the little lady to attend the bed. After all, she was the daughter of a native official and an ordinary native official's family. Marriage was unnecessary, and it was nothing to do if it was ruined.Of course, it is impossible to have feelings, and even communication is a problem, it's just a one-sided relationship.

Chapter 3 and Six: The Peacock Flies Southeast

Yuanjiang is the Red River, and the army must first reach the Yuanjiang River and then go down the Red River along the way.

The troops under Zhu Gaoxu's command were divided into five groups. Except for Wang Bin's vanguard, the remaining troops were divided into four groups and marched one after another.Zhu Gaoxu led tens of thousands of people through Mengzi County of Lin'an Prefecture first, and saw Yuanjiang within two days, and it was already the beginning of July.

Marching along the Yuanjiang River, the roads are relatively easy to walk, and most of them are rolling hilly areas.However, when the weather is clear, you can see the shadows of the mountains on the north and south sides, and there are high mountains in the distance.The ancient big river has chosen a path for people that is not blocked by mountains.

The weather in July is still hot, Zhu Gaoxu can't feel the breath of autumn, and it often rains.But now everyone is still on the territory of the Chief Commissioner of Yunnan Province. Because there is no war, there are no casualties in the barracks purge, and no outbreak of disease.It was almost late autumn when they arrived in Annan Kingdom and were about to prepare for a big battle.

The army arrived all the way to Jilingguan (Old Street), an important town on the northwestern border of An Nanguo, but there was still no fighting, and even conflicts did not occur.Annan's army abandoned this pass, digging ravines and moving rocks to block the road; however, it was of no use. After arriving at Jiling Pass, the terrain of the Yuanjiang River valley was even flatter than in Yunnan.Wang Bin's vanguard army has cleared the road and marched towards Qin Station.

Zhu Gaoxu led the crowd to set up camp near Jiling Pass. While waiting for the army from all walks of life to arrive and gather one after another, he sent people to the villages around Jiling Pass.

Every time the Ming army team arrived at a village, they first gave a call to arms and ordered each village to requisition military rations according to the population. Generally, only one to two buckets of grain were collected per Ding.As long as the villagers paid their taxes, the Ming army posted an Anmin bill, promising that Qiu would not commit any crimes and would never kill the people indiscriminately. They also gave the village a brocade banner of Chen's loyal ministers as a token of commendation.

This is what Zhu Gaoxu has been used to doing since the "Battle of Jingnan". He does not advocate looting | looting.According to the veterans, pampering the soldiers will make everyone work harder on the battlefield; but Zhu Gaoxu believes that this will intensify the conflict between the soldiers and the locals, and create new troubles.He usually robs|robs the treasury in an organized manner, and collects|scrapes the land in proportion, instead of killing|exterminating and wasting resources, and then rewards and pensions soldiers, or establishes camps, so that everyone can get real benefits.

After the Hungry Ghost Festival, the Chinese army received Wang Bin's report. The first battle of the Ming army in Annan Kingdom took place at Qinzhan. The Annan army had only two camps, which were easily defeated by Wang Bin's vanguard.

Zhu Gaoxu ordered the armies from all walks of life to march towards Qinzhan one after another according to the deployment after July [-]th. He rushed to Qinzhan first with more than [-] cavalry guards.

The personal guard cavalry went south along the official road on the bank of the Red River. As soon as Zhu Gaoxu left the Jiling Pass area, he immediately discovered that the landform here was different from that in Yunnan.

There are still rolling hills and low hills near the main road, but the woods are getting denser and the mountains are endless.However, Annan's army did not conduct guerrilla attacks in these places, Wang Bin's troops did not encounter the slightest resistance, and Zhu Gaoxu's hundreds of troops did not encounter attacks.

Zhu Gaoxu found that guerrilla tactics were rarely used by chieftains in various countries at this time. After careful consideration, perhaps the enemy army was not only because of a problem of concept, but also because of conditional restrictions.Many conditions at this time were not as good as those of later generations. Food and grass transportation, government rule|government, and weapon lethality were not so good. Guerrilla soldiers and horses in the mountainous areas were even problematic to feed; Not only the terrain, but also the affluence of the surrounding land and whether it can support so many troops... For example, Jingzhou, an important town in the inland.

Since Annan's army didn't understand guerrilla tactics in the jungle, or couldn't do it at all, Zhu Gaoxu was relieved a lot.

There is a gate tower at the pass of Qinzhan, which is the same as the gate tower of the Ming Dynasty.When Zhu Gaoxu came to Annan Kingdom, apart from the different language, he had the illusion that he was still in the territory of the Ming Dynasty when he looked at its scenery.

Wang Bin and other generals greeted him.There was a lot of noise under the city tower, many enemy soldiers and captives were crying and shouting there, and the soldiers of the Ming army around them were gesticulating and yelling with weapons.

"My lord!" Wang Bin got off his horse, clasped his fists and saluted the army.

Zhu Gaoxu immediately returned the salute with fists cupped, and pointed at the messy situation downstairs with his whip, "What's going on?"

Wang Bin said: "At the beginning of the year, our envoys and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were massacred here. I captured two Annan people from the military camp, and I was about to behead them here to comfort the soldiers."

Zhu Gaoxu did not stop everyone, and went to wait and see on the horse.Seeing this, Wang Bin beckoned to the generals on the hillside, and after a while, he heard a burst of "crackling" firecrackers, and then the soldiers of the Ming army marched forward with swords and guns, and chopped anyone they saw.Most of those captives had their hands tied behind their backs and were strung up with ropes. They couldn't run or resist.

Most of the generals of the Annan Army wore wide-brimmed hats like bamboo hats, or because of the rain in Annan Country, it was convenient for shelter from the rain.Generals wear armor and helmets, which are somewhat similar to those of the Ming army.

At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu heard someone trembling in Chinese with inaccurate pronunciation: "The moonlight in front of the bed is suspected to be frost on the ground... My heart is for the Ming Dynasty, and I love poetry, Fu and Ming dishes, don't kill me ...the peacock flies southeast..."

Zhu Gaoxu followed the sound and saw a general of the Annan Army in armor, who was crying with his head up in Chinese.Zhu Gaoxu immediately pointed at that person and said, "Don't kill him, bring him here!"

Wang Bin immediately yelled at his subordinates to rush over and escort the man over.But the man couldn't stand still, and was dragged from the ground by two people to Zhu Gaoxu's horse.

From Zhu Gaoxu's point of view, this person's skin was paler than other Annan people, and he was trembling with fright. He didn't seem to be a veteran in the battlefield. Most of them are children of wealthy families, not to mention that Annan people can sing Chinese poems.

"Hahaha..." Suddenly there was a burst of laughter from around.Zhu Gaoxu smelled a bad smell, and only then did he realize that the pants of the person in front of him were already wet, his face flushed, he was afraid and ashamed, and he was in a mess.

"Master, please forgive me!" This man's Chinese accent is strange, but he speaks fluently, "I don't want to be an enemy of Master Daming, nor am I a rebel against the Hu family! The Hu family knows that this place cannot be defended." , all the cronies and horses have been transferred, and the rest of us are abandoned pawns..."

Zhu Gaoxu said: "What's your name?"

"Ruan Zhi."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said, "Ruan Zhi, are you willing to abandon the darkness and turn to the light in order to restore the orthodoxy of the Chen family?"

Ruan Zhi nodded desperately without hesitation, bent over and said, "Thank you, Commander, for not killing me!"

"Don't embarrass him." Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand.

Wang Bin cupped his fists and said, "Decree!"

After Ruan Zhi was taken away, Zhu Gaoxu immediately asked directly, "Have you seized the Annan Army's guns?"

Wang Bin said: "Go back to your lord, there are! There are hundreds of firecrackers in the two villages, and most of them are still usable. The Annan army used a lot of firearms."

"Get on the horse and lead the way." Zhu Gaoxu said briefly.

A group of people got on their horses one after another, stepped straight through the headless | corpses and blood stains under the tower, and went straight into the Qinzhan tower.

When they came to a military camp, all kinds of captured firearms, weapons, and armor were placed in the open space. The soldiers of the Ming army also built thatched sheds to protect them from the rain.

Zhu Gaoxu dismounted and threw the reins to Zhao Ping beside him.Although Zhao Ping is a general who leads hundreds of elite soldiers, he is still a groom in front of Zhu Gaoxu!

Zhu Gaoxu picked up a firecracker and inspected it.Wang Bin said beside him: "The firecrackers loaded with arrows can hit farther than our copper firecrackers! But the Annan Army's cannons, bows|crossbows are not as good as ours."

Sure enough, as Zhu Gaoxu expected, there is no essential difference between the firecrackers of the Annan Army and the Ming Army, from the casting process to the principle are the same.Although Zhu Gaoxu is not a craftsman, it can be seen that casting and forging are different. The firecracker in his hand is still mainly made of copper; the difference is that the caliber is smaller and slightly longer than that of the Ming army.

Zhu Gaoxu pondered for a moment, and remembered that the barrel length of rifle|guns of later generations has a longer range than pistols. It is common sense that the barrel length of guns is helpful to the range.

He also pondered that there is actually an acceleration when the bullet goes from rest to high speed, which is the Newtonian kinematics learned in junior high school.

The push|force of acceleration relies on the explosion|expansion of the gas that the gun|powder burns.When the thrust is about the same, the longer the barrel, the longer the acceleration time, and the faster the exit speed... Zhu Gaoxu can roughly understand the reason after doing a mental calculation.

Zhu Gaoxu carefully inspected each part. He lightly touched the muzzle with his fingers, and found a little sawdust, which was the remnant of the wooden horse.Apparently Annan's army also learned to use wooden horses to increase airtightness, otherwise arrow clusters would be used as projectiles, which would not be able to be sealed, and it is estimated that the shooting range could only hit the front.

He also ordered the soldiers to use the captured Annan firecrackers to hit the target, and found that at a distance of twenty steps, this kind of firecrackers could not penetrate the wooden boards;

Therefore, the Annan army's firecrackers hit farther than the Ming army's copper firecrackers, but the Ming army also had bow|crossbows and artillery to make up for the long range.

Zhu Gaoxu made a judgment: a little difference in the firearms of the two armies could not fundamentally affect the outcome of the battle.For a while his mood gradually improved.