It is better to be loose than to block it. This is actually a truth that the ancients understood. The reason why the sea was banned in the Ming Dynasty was because the country had just been decided and there was not much large-scale trade. At that time, Europeans did not start large-scale maritime trade. The Arabs were in decline. The trade targets of the Tang and Song dynasties were mainly Arabs, who transferred Chinese goods to Europe to make huge profits.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the trade route to Europe was the Silk Road on land. After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, due to war and environmental changes, and the Arabs straddle between Europe and Asia, the Maritime Silk Road gradually replaced the land route.

By the Ming Dynasty, the Silk Road on the land had been completely cut off, so the Ming Taizu only took Hami to set up a guard and did not send a large army to continue to go west. One reason was that Mongolia was strong at that time, and from Hetao to the Western Regions, it was too difficult to get enemies from the left and right front and back. The other reason was that there was no benefit, the Han Dynasty opened the Western Regions not only for military and land, but also for economic benefits.

By the Ming Dynasty, the situation was completely different. The Ming Dynasty had no interest in obtaining the land in the Western Regions. Otherwise, it would be impossible to obtain the land in the Western Regions with the national strength in the early Ming Dynasty. It was just that the situation was similar and similar, and the final choice was completely different.

For Chen Liang, what he was sad about was that his training and enthusiasm were fruitless.

The Ming court invested heavily in Dengzhou Town, and Sun Yuanhua hired a large number of Portuguese mercenaries, instructors, and technicians here, hoping to build a completely pure Western-style firearm unit.

This idea is actually correct. If Sun Yuanhua made it, tens of thousands of musketeers appeared on the battlefield of the Battle of Songjin in the 14th year of Chongzhen, the scene would not be too beautiful.

Unfortunately, at the end of the dynasty, all good ideas will always take a wrong step in the end, and one mistake will be wrong step by step.

First of all, Chongzhen should not be eager for quick success and instant benefits, so he listened to the Liaoxi generals who fooled him to build the Dalinghe City.

The Ming army hastily built the city, and had no plans or plans for a war. The army was not intact, the preparations were not sufficient, and the logistics was not smooth. Zu Dashou ran to build the city in a hurry.

The Zu family wanted to further expand their territory and strength. The situation at that time was completely different from the beginning of Chongzhen in the end of the Tianqi period.

Neither the civil servants who lived in Yuan Chonghuan's town were recommended, nor the help of Zhao Rujiao and Man Gui and other powerful generals. Zu Dashou has never taken Man Gui and Zhao Rujiao seriously. He has the generals of the Zu family, including Zu Kuan, who are from family members. He thinks that the Eastern Captains are not afraid of. After all, he defeated the Jurchens with artillery during the Battle of Ningjin, and he thought the result would be the same in the cultivation of Dalinghe City.

The result was completely different. Without tens of thousands of elite troops to support, the Jurchens flocked to the scene, and Jianchangwei surrounded Dalinghe City and did not rush to attack and attack. What if you have elite troops and artillery? If you go out of the city and fight in the field, you will die. You can only trap Dalinghe City and wait for assistance.

What Huang Taiji wants is that you are waiting for help. Zu Dashou is actually loyal to the Ming Dynasty, but he is too selfish and wants to expand his own strength.

It was this selfishness that made the Ming Dynasty miserable. Chongzhen did not ask about these two disasters, but gradually increased his troops.

The Ming army repeatedly aided Daling River, but they were all taken.

The Ming army sent four reinforcements, the largest of which was the 40,000 main force led by the military supervisor Zhang Chun. As a result, they were completely defeated in one battle. Only dozens of Need Dings led by Wu Xiang and Song Wei escaped. The remaining dozens of generals and Zhang Chun were all captured, and a large number of soldiers were killed.

All Zu Dashou brought were elite soldiers from the Zu family, as well as camp soldiers and a large number of civilians.

There are more than 30,000 people in Xinzhu City, and the food in the city can only be eaten for a few days.

The reason why he persisted for so long was that Zu Dashou turned into an ogre. His Need and his personal army had been eating people, first eating civil servants, then eating camp soldiers, and finally seeing that everyone was about to eat up. Zu Dashou killed He Kegang, who refused to surrender, and led the generals to surrender. Although Zu Dashou surrendered, he realized that Huang Taiji had no future and ran away later.

For the benefit of the Zu family, he also defended Jinzhou. Jinzhou was far away from Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan, and extended the supply line and front line of the Ming army. As a result, around the 14th year of Chongzhen, Jinzhou was surrounded by the troops of the kings such as Dorgon and Haoge, including Huang Taiji.

This time, Zu Dashou learned from his lessons and accumulated a large amount of food in Jinzhou City, which was enough for the military and civilians in the city to eat for several years.

There were also elite armored soldiers and a large number of artillery, which was impossible for the Qing army to attack. Even if they piled up all the Eight Banners soldiers under the city, they would not be able to attack them.

However, the Later Jin changed Jin to Qing, and the national strength was also booming under the leadership of Huang Taiji.

The battle of Daling River only took a few months, and the Later Jin Dynasty had already consumed almost the same national strength.

However, the siege of Jinzhou can be siege for a long time. Not only does it separate Jinzhou, but it also separates Songta and other forts. The Qing army also made plans to siege for a long time.

There is no shortage of firearms, no shortage of armor and weapons, and no shortage of food. The only thing Zu Dashou did not expect was the shortage of firewood.

There was no object that caused fire, and the city was still hungry and cold. This time, Chongzhen's second personality helped the Jurchens again, forcing Hong Chengchou to march unprepared.

After the Battle of Songjin, even if the Ming Dynasty was completely finished, it would be honest at this time. The Zu family was forced to surrender. There was no general thinking about opening the territory outside the pass, and only guarding Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan. The Qing army never thought of a strong attack. Anyway, Huang Taiji defeated Lin Danhan at that time, and from Datong to Jizhen, he could break into the door anywhere.

The Battle of Daling River destroyed not only a large number of elite Ming army soldiers and the ancestors, but the Ming court rushed to seek medical treatment in an emergency, and also sent Dongjiang soldiers who were dissatisfied with evil intentions to the battlefield.

Of course, Kong Youde and others didn't want to go. The Wuqiao mutiny seemed accidental, but it was inevitable.

The most unlucky thing is the Dengzhou Town where Shen Liang is located. The firearm transformation process was interrupted by the Dongjiang riots just beginning. Not only Dengzhou Town has finished, but also Sun Yuanhua, who was in charge of the firearm process, was also finished. The Portuguese were destroyed, Shen Liang and others either died or fled, and everything disappeared.

At this moment, when Shen Liang stood in front of the Folang machine cannon, his face was not surprising at all.

Shen Liang quickly adjusted his emotions. Judging from Min Yuanqi's instructions just now, and Shen Liang's understanding of Min Yuanqi, it would be strange if this person puts these cannons in the fortress as dead objects.

There are at least thousands of small and small Folang Ji in important towns such as Nanjing, Beijing, Liaoyang, and most of the Ming army treats them as dead objects to defend the city.

When Sun Chengzong and his elders were building firearms in western Liaoning, they did not provide large artillery, mostly crows and tiger squat cannons. The decent cannons weighing hundreds of pounds were hardly used in field battles, and they were all placed on the top of the city.

This idea of ​​casting heavy artillery to defend the city was of course extremely wrong, and it was also an idea after the Ming army suffered repeated defeats in field battles.

The city will not fall easily, and artillery bombardment on the top of the city gives the soldiers guarding the city and the Ming army leaving the city a strong psychological hint, and it is also a sense of support and security.

But if these artillery were used in field combat, the situation might be different?

Chen Liang didn't think too deeply. He was very skillful in his movements. The place suitable for the place to be opened here is the river. Install the cannon barrel on the cannon stand and fix it, install gunpowder, and ignite the rope.

Everything was quite skilled, which made Min Yuanqi, who was watching from a distance, highly praised and satisfied.

It was true that there was a hidden dragon and tiger in the grass. It was not enough to be an inconspicuous Shandong deserter, who was skilled in muskets, but he was quite skilled in artillery skills. It can be seen that Chen Liang resolutely joined the army, not wanting to live a life, but learning various skills in the army. This kid must have had a lot of plans. At the least, he wanted to make a fortune in the army and get the family out of poverty and embarrassment.

There are not many such poor children, but in the long river of history, they can only make the first place among hundreds of thousands of people. If there is a slight failure, there will be no chance to go further.

As the aristocratic family came from, even if they encountered setbacks, they always had the opportunity to stand up again.

The royal family members like Liu Xiu, as well as the nobles like Li Shimin, who came from a noble family, and the Zhao Song Taizu were also generals who came from the Five Dynasties. They naturally succeeded in rebellion than ordinary people.

Even those generals of Li Tang, many of the rebels were from generation to generation, such as Cheng Zhijie, whose father and grandparents were all generals. The people described him as a reckless person who was a poor child, but in fact he was just a fantasy of the poor people who wanted their own people to make their mark.

Yuchi Gong, a family, was born in a noble family. His grandfather was the governor of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the founding Duke. His father was the third officer of Yitong Sansi, the King of Wei Jishi, and was awarded the title of the governor of Fenzhou and the governor of Youzhou.

Li Jing, a family of Guanlong, was born in the Guanlong family, and his grandfather was the governor of Shanzhou, Yong and Gong of Kang County.

The twenty-four generals of Lingyan Pavilion are very small.

He was born in a general family and received complete military and political education since childhood. In addition to playing dandy, the chance of becoming an elite is much higher than that of a poor family.

But there may not be no talent among poor families.

The Shen Liang in front of him, smart, smart, bold and persevering, is indeed a rare talent.

In contrast, Min Yuanzhi, who was born in a general family, felt very good on the battlefield and was born with a natural general. He was a bit more cruel than Chen Liang when training cavalry. He was quite a bit of a bad comment among the soldiers who did not care about the soldiers.

But when everyone talked about it, they wanted to join the cavalry team and become one of the knights under Min Yuanzhi's command.

High salary is only one of the reasons. The important thing is that force and riding are obviously good, and people are more capable and sensitive. These changes are seen in people's eyes.

There is reward for your efforts, and this world is quite fair.

In addition to these, cavalry is more likely to gain military merits. This pair of heroes who actively join the warriors and intend to go further in this system will also be more attractive.

Min Yuanzhi is a representative figure of this generation, showing his sharpness and being extremely sharp.

Chen Liang is the other side, decisive and peaceful, and training is extremely strict, but there are also some water sections that boost morale, whether it is words, or some rewards and encouragement.

Min Yuanzhi disdained it, but Chen Liang was probably using it.

The two people have completely different styles. One is a sword that is full of courage and courage, while the other is a well-trained and well-trained sword player who has been on the battlefield, can attack and defend freely, grasp it well, and move forward and retreat freely.

Seeing the bright movements in front of you, the military officers present were full of appreciation. It was true that only Min Yuanzhi just watched casually, and his interest was not very strong.

For cavalry generals, only cavalry is valued, and nothing else is in their eyes.

Only cavalry defeats cavalry, and on the battlefield, only cavalry is the king.

Chen Liang shook the fire sticks on his waist. This thing is actually to turn the flammable ignition-induced object from the open fire to the dark fire. After taking it out and opening the lid, the air enters, and then blows it and ignites it.

There are definitely no lighters and matches for easy carrying and storage, but after all, there are no such good things, right?

In the sight of everyone, the fire lit the lead, and the lead burned quickly until the fire door.

Everyone saw a fire leaping, and then a roar that shook the sky and the earth sounded.
Chapter completed!