Chapter 571: Doubting the Great Ming's Strength

Zhu Youxiao continued to sit motionless as a mountain on the high platform, his gaze steady as he slowly swept his eyes over the troops below, the expression on his face one of utter satisfaction.

This was the cavalry he had envisioned. With cavalry like this, combat effectiveness was perfect. Against opponents who lacked hand-cranked rotary machine guns, his cavalry was unmatched in the world.

In fact, even by the time of the Second World War, lancers were still able to remain active for a period, still capable of playing a role in certain specific environments and battlefields—there really wasn't much of a problem with them.

And cavalry like what was before him, in this era, possessed power that could not be underestimated.

The faces of those around him looked somewhat displeased.

Was the Great Ming relying on these to defeat Hong Taiji? Had Hong Taiji already become this pathetic?

If it were me in his place, I might well have won. By that time, the entire Liaodong would have been mine.

At this thought, many people's eyes grew somewhat feverish.

Of course, there were also those who remained clear-headed—Wukeshan and his ilk, for example. They truly held these people's notions in utter contempt; seeing the expressions on these men's faces was like watching them commit suicide.

Wukeshan looked at them with a cold sneer on his face, as if gazing upon a pile of corpses.

If the Great Ming's army were truly this weak, then what need would there be for people like them?

Back in Daning City, he had personally seen the Great Ming's army. Though he had never fought against them, over these past few years their equipment had been continuously upgraded, supplies of all kinds constantly replenished—the transformation was simply earth-shattering.

If it came to battle against the Great Ming's army, Wukeshan had not the slightest confidence.

If Hong Taiji could defeat the Great Ming this time, he could still tag along and pick up some spoils. But as it turned out, Hong Taiji had gone and lost his very life.

How strong Nurhaci's forces had been back then—everyone present had likely forgotten; they probably thought the Great Ming was just picking up an easy win. But Wukeshan did not see it that way.

One had to understand that over these years, Hong Taiji had also been continuously developing and evolving; his forces had grown stronger and stronger. Yet even under such circumstances, Hong Taiji was still beaten by the Great Ming until he had no strength left to fight back.

So what was all this about? They saw the Great Ming's troops and immediately gained such confidence? Were they thinking too much?

Although Wukeshan didn't know why the Great Ming's emperor had brought out troops like these—they looked even inferior to the cavalry at Daning, so much so that even Wukeshan found it hard to believe these were the men who had fought Hong Taiji—

Yet precisely because of this, Wukeshan became even more cautious. What if this was the Great Ming emperor's scheme, bait to lure people into making a move?

Utterly despicable, utterly treacherous!

Zhu Youxiao had no idea at all what Wukeshan was thinking.

In fact, regarding the development of Liaodong, Zhu Youxiao had long-term plans. It was just that they were useless for now—the population and industrial scale here couldn't satisfy his vision. So all he could do was wait.

Maintaining the current situation and a stable environment for development was very important to the Great Ming.

If wars broke out on all sides, the cost would be too great and entirely unnecessary. The development of Liaodong still needed the Mongols and Joseon to contribute their share; under such circumstances, giving them a good scare was sufficient.

At this moment, the cavalry split to both sides, revealing the infantry behind them.

These infantrymen likewise wore only simple leather armor, steel helmets on their heads, looking much the same as the cavalry's equipment. The difference seemed to be that their body armor was somewhat thicker.

But these things couldn't stop a cavalryman's curved saber and arrows either! Was this what the Great Ming had relied on to win?

Many people at the scene were already casting doubtful looks at the troops on the field, believing the Great Ming emperor was hiding his true strength, deliberately luring everyone, refusing to show his real army, making everyone think the Great Ming was weak so they would start a war.

Quite a number of people held this view.

No wonder the Great Ming emperor hadn't received them—so this was the game he was playing.

Many faces darkened, feeling that the Great Ming emperor was about to make a move against them all. This was a very bad sign.

But no matter what they thought, the military demonstration below continued.

After the infantry square passed, next came the artillery.

Mortars, mountain guns, heavy machine guns, and rocket projectiles—all pulled by horse-drawn carts, passing before these people's eyes one vehicle after another.

Seeing this, everyone felt a chill run down their spines, and their faces all turned grave.

To them, firearms were truly terrifying things. They had never imagined this unit would be equipped with so many cannons.

In their impression, cannons were extremely formidable.

Because information in this era wasn't so advanced, they had no idea that the muskets the infantry had been carrying on their backs earlier were actually far more powerful.

In this era, muskets were far more effective against them than artillery. But they all assumed those were just the Great Ming's old fire lances, thinking their power was nothing special.

After all, the Great Ming's firearms had been upgraded and replaced more than once or twice, but none had ever truly been able to wipe them out; everyone had encountered them on the battlefield before. Once cavalry war horses got charging, they were nothing special.

In truth, this could only be described as them overthinking things. Back in the day, Qi Jiguang could thrash them with primitive fire lances, let alone the later musketeers.

It was only later that the entire Great Ming military system grew increasingly corrupt, and firearms became increasingly crappy. The firearms produced either exploded or couldn't be used, with more of the money embezzled. It was because they couldn't win against foreign tribes under such circumstances that they came to believe firearms were nothing special.

Once everyone had arrived, Lu Xiangsheng and Cao Wenzhao also came.

The two walked up from the rear, expressions extremely solemn, their eyes not registering the people around them at all.

Everything the two did was solely for the Emperor to see. As long as His Majesty was fully satisfied with their conduct, that was enough. The people around them didn't matter—what difference did their satisfaction or dissatisfaction make?

If they rose up and made trouble, smashing them to pieces would settle it.

Next came the standard procedure: Zhu Youxiao received them, then bestowed rewards.

Finally came the sacrificial prayer to heaven that had long since been written, informing the old heavens above and the ancestors in the sky that he had this time destroyed Hong Taiji.

Only after the prayer was burned did these procedures come to an end.

Next, naturally, came the imperial-level grand banquet for guests, primarily to reward the generals who had rendered meritorious service this time. The remaining soldiers would also feast heartily—today, no restrictions on wine or meat.

The entire city of Shenyang was instantly plunged into revelry.

Zhu Youxiao, for his part, returned directly to his field headquarters.

This was merely the appetizer for the first day—this process was absolutely necessary.

After returning, Zhu Youxiao did nothing further but wait for the next day to arrive.

The military demonstration on the second day was the real highlight; the eating and drinking were just routine procedure, a way of giving his generals and soldiers their due.

If they won a victory and returned without this process and ceremony, it would be incomplete. So this process had to happen.

Those deserving rewards were rewarded, those deserving commendation were commended, and the fallen absolutely had to be compensated.

As for the military demonstration, that was a matter for the foreigners—scaring them a bit naturally had to be scheduled afterward.

Time flew, days and months passed swiftly, and in the blink of an eye it was the morning of the second day.

Today, Zhu Youxiao did not wear as fine a dragon robe as yesterday, but simply changed into a different set of clothes.

This outfit was naturally a set of simple armor, used mostly for ceremonial purposes.

The Ming Dynasty emperor's armor had already been scaled down several times, and by now, only leather armor remained to barely protect the body.

In fact, if not for the psychological comfort of the soldiers, Zhu Youxiao would have wanted to do away with armor altogether.

However, Zhu Youxiao believed that once this war was over, the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty would no longer care so much about armor, and it could eventually be abolished.

Abolishing this sort of thing was in many cases done to save costs—for instance, this kind of simple leather armor did provide some protection, but if it were eliminated, a large sum of money could be saved.

But in the short term, Zhu Youxiao had no intention of abolishing it, because it still had protective value. Once the enemy also started using firearms and cannons, it would become meaningless. Because whether you wore armor or not made no difference—you'd be struck dead in one shot either way.

By that time, what needed to be developed would be bulletproof vests.

Standing before the mirror, looking at himself in the armor, Zhu Youxiao nodded with satisfaction.

Although he had never been on a battlefield and his combat skills were nothing to speak of, wearing this armor still put him in a fairly good mood.

The most important thing was that this set of armor could still fit him, which showed it had been well maintained, and that his robust physique would allow him to live many more years.

Zhu Youxiao said to Wei Chao beside him, "It's about time. Let's all head out."

Having said that, Zhu Youxiao turned around directly and was the first to walk outside.

By the time Zhu Youxiao reached the outside, quite a few people were already waiting there.

"Begin."

At Zhu Youxiao's single word, everyone rumbled their way over to yesterday's drill ground.

By the time these people arrived, a large crowd had already gathered there.

Yesterday's affair was an appetizer, enjoyed by the soldiers themselves.

Today was the main course, put on display for everyone to see.

The Mongols present had arrived even earlier—they had already dismissed the Ming army with contempt yesterday, and today they were even more eager to see just what these people could do.

The common Ming folk around had also come out early, sitting far away on small folding stools, craning their necks to watch the excitement.

Zhu Youxiao even spotted quite a few people setting up stalls not far away.

Clearly, this had already become a form of entertainment. Where merchants gathered, the commercial atmosphere was always lively. If it weren't inconvenient, Zhu Youxiao would have wanted to go take a look himself.

He imagined that if he could stroll around over there, he might find some of that feeling of browsing a snack street in later generations. But there was no way now—he couldn't leave, couldn't go.

It was rather frustrating.