Towards the end of the fourth year of the Hongxing reign of the Ming Dynasty, the banks of the Yangtze River were already freezing and freezing. In the waiting hall next to the Xihua Gate of the East Lake Palace in Wuchang, two crimson-robed military attachés were talking in the corner.

"You're such a shameless kid. You want to ruin the family tradition of my Li family by marrying such a rich woman!"

The person giving the lecture was Li Ruolian, who was currently the deputy military advisor and director of military science at the Generalissimo's Mansion.

"Mr. Fan is capable of giving birth. Look at her figure, her breasts, and her ass. She is capable of giving birth! Isn't she pregnant now? There are three ways to be unfilial, and having no offspring is the worst! My nephew doesn't have a son yet, so marry one.

A mother-in-law who can bear children is a filial piety, and I am a filial son!"

The person who replied was Li Shaoyou, the temporary ambassador of the Ming Empire to the Holy Roman Empire. This guy was already very eloquent, but now that he has become a diplomat and has gained experience in the international arena, he is even more eloquent.

"You are still a filial son...Have you ever asked your father? Of your three sons, you are the most unfilial one!"

Li Ruolian continued to curse with a straight face.

"Uncle...I am now successful. When I meet the emperor later, I will definitely be a hero in overcoming difficulties. Maybe I can even get a title and honor my ancestors."

Li Shaoyou is still plausible. He was indeed not a filial son before. He could not even spend the money he earned. He did not marry and have children even at his old age, and he especially liked to go to places like the Qinhuai River... But now he has made a fortune.

Got it!

This time he brought back more than 700 Arabian horses (more than 200 died on the road), more than 300 European ocean horses (excluding his wife), a Dutch-made warship, dozens of Dutch navy, and

There are many guns and ammunition, countless raw materials for machinery and equipment, many Western technical books, and many single Dutch mechanics whose wives have died or who are too old to get married. Oh, there is also one who is said to be from France.

Prince Kong, the greatest warrior in the country...

There is also "Ambassador Li's Journey to the West" written by himself!

This is all credit!

Although Ji Kun occupies the lion's share, as the deputy envoy, he can always get a small share of the credit, right?

"you......"

Just as Li Ruolian was about to continue scolding, he heard a male duck calling: "Li Shaoyou! Who is Li Shaoyou?"

Li Ruolian looked back and was stunned. It was Huang Xiaobao, the eunuch Bingbi, the Superintendent of Ceremonies!

After Huang Dabao went to Beijing to mourn, he was the biggest one in the East Lake Palace. That is to say, the eunuchs now have no power. If we put it aside, he would be the "internal prime minister" and could compete with Wei Zaode!

"Eunuch Huang, why are you here in person?" Li Ruolian immediately went up to greet him.

"Deputy Military Advisor Li?" Huang Xiaobao was stunned, "You are not on the list of people asking to see you!"

"I came here with Li Shaoyou." Li Ruolian pointed to his nephew, "He is my nephew."

"Oh," Huang Xiaobao smiled, "Then let's come together... Your Majesty is eager to see you."

At this time, everyone in the waiting hall cast envious glances - there are rules for waiting for meetings. You must report to the Supervisor of Ceremonies in advance, and then the Supervisor of Ceremonies will arrange when to meet according to the situation. It is generally arranged.

The order of the audience will not be changed unless the emperor is really anxious to see him.

At this time, Huang Xiaobao said again: "Everyone else, please go back... Your Majesty, I don't have time to see you today. I will make arrangements with the Ceremony Supervisory Committee later."

Just meet Li Shaoyou!

Is this going to be of great use?

...

"Don't kneel down, come forward and speak, and give me a seat!"

Zhu Cixiang was getting a little impatient waiting! When he saw Li Ruolian and Li Shaoyou walking in, he did not let them kowtow, but asked them to sit down and talk.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the seat..."

"I respectfully bid your Majesty your peace."

Li Ruolian and Li Shaoyou hurriedly thanked them and said hello. As soon as their buttocks touched the chair, Zhu Cihong spoke.

"Who is Prince Kong, the greatest warrior in France? What is his surname? What is his name? Where is the fiefdom?"

This question confused both Li Ruolian and Huang Xiaobao at the side.

Of course Prince Kong's surname is Kong... he is related to the strong man Yan Shenggong!

"Your Majesty," Li Shaoyou hurriedly stood up and replied, "This Prince Kong is also named Bourbon. His name is De."

That is Louis de Bourbon!

Li Shaoyou continued: "As for the fiefdom, it is in Condé County, Champagne Prefecture, France. Because he is a close relative of the French King and a hereditary iron prince, he is called Prince Condé..."

Zhu Cixiang said in surprise: "Isn't that the great Kong Dynasty?"

"No, it's not Da Kongdai." Li Shaoyou said, "He's not big at all. He's short and stumpy. He's just a little man."

That’s right!

Zhu Cihong thought to himself: That's the great Condai! The French dwarf general is feared by all of Europe... Why was this guy kidnapped and brought to China by Ji Kun?

"Where is Prince Kong Dai?" Zhu Cixiang asked hurriedly.

"Still in Shanghai..."

Zhu Cixiang said: "Quickly announce that Li Yan, Wu Xiang, Wu Sanfu and Zheng Zhilong have entered the palace!"

...

Li Yan is still serving as his military advisor, Wu Xiang is still the Minister of War, and Wu Sanfu is leading troops away from home. He has returned to Wuhan to celebrate the New Year. It is now the end of December, and all the government offices are about to go on holiday, and they are all thinking about being an official.

It's time to celebrate the New Year - the yamen also have to celebrate the New Year! We have to arrange the New Year's Eve dinner, prepare big red envelopes, arrange for people to work overtime, and many people have to go back to their hometowns. There are a lot of things to do!

Li Yan and Wu Xiang were busy in the yamen, so they were announced by the eunuch to come to the East Lake Palace to meet the driver. They found that Li Ruolian, Wu Sanfu, and Zheng Zhilong were all there, and they all became nervous.

Is this going to be a war?

During the Chinese New Year, the enemies of the Ming Dynasty don’t even take a break?

"Everyone, please take a seat... We have something important to discuss." Zhu Cixiang saw that everyone was here and asked them to sit down.

After several people saluted, they all took their seats, and then looked at Zhu Cihong who looked excited.

So happy, could it be that Donglu has started to fight internally?

Zhu Cixiang spoke, "My Ming Dynasty is now fully equipped with military provisions, sophisticated equipment, and some good horses. The only shortcoming is the lack of generals."

Lack of generals?

Wu Xiang glanced at his son Wu Sanfu. Both father and son looked aggrieved.

They have worked hard!

"But now there is a way to make up for this weakness." Zhu Cihong said, "The mission that visited Europe recently came back and brought back many foreign generals. One of them is the number one general in France, he is quite outstanding!"

"Your Majesty," Wu Xiang asked, "do you want to use foreign generals?"

Use Prince Kongdai to fight Dodo and Azig?

Isn't this bad...

"It's not a big use, but a good use." Zhu Cihong said, "It's better to teach people how to fish than to teach them how to fish. No matter how powerful the foreign generals are, they belong to others after all. If we use them to command the war, it is better to ask them to be our teachers and teach us.

My generals use Western military techniques."

Of course, China also has many good military arts, some that teach strategy and some that teach tactics. For example, Qi Jiguang's "New Book of Jixiao", "Records of Military Training" and Mao Yuanyi's "Military Bei Zhi" are all very powerful military works.

In particular, Qi Jiguang's "Records of Military Training" is a military book with high practical value. Many of its contents are still selected as teaching materials by the Martial Arts Hall, and now the middle and senior generals of the Ming Army are familiar with its contents.

However, Zhu Cixiang's new army adopted the Western-style Morris Square as its main field tactics, so it could not completely use the "Records of Military Training", "New Book of Records" and "Book of Military Preparations" to train officers. For this reason, Emperor Zhu

Western instructors have been introduced a long time ago to help train the troops, and martial arts halls with Western officers as instructors have also been opened to train new types of officers.

However, the Western officers he had previously invited through the Portuguese and Dutch had varying levels of experience and had no experience in commanding large-scale troops. At best, they had served as mid- to low-level officers on the European battlefield and had commanded dozens or hundreds of people.

There are at most a few hundred troops, and they are all infantry and artillery officers. There are no cavalry officers, and there are no staff officers.

Therefore, Zhu Cixiang's new army was actually a combination of a large number of infantry battalions and regimental artillery batteries. The combat effectiveness was not weak individually, but once it was formed into a large corps, it was unable to exert its strength and was far from the level that could crush the Qing army.
Chapter completed!