Chapter 1664: Does the Imperial Prison Make a Man Improve?

Seeing that his teachers had unified their thinking and were all willing to take the path of the scholar-general versed in both pen and sword, Zhu Youjian was thoroughly satisfied — satisfied with his teachers' loyalty, and of course satisfied with his own judgment as well!

What excellent judgment! In one stroke he had picked out the few civil officials in the Great Ming most capable of leading troops.

"Since all four of you gentlemen are willing to train and command troops for Us, for the Great Ming, then We would ask you: do you know how to train troops and command them in battle?" Zhu Youjian truly was a good student! He was not ashamed to ask his inferiors, and one difficult question for his teachers followed another!

"Though this subject is a scholar, he has thoroughly studied the military classics and is well versed in the arts of war; he merely lacks experience in leading troops into battle."

The first to answer Zhu Youjian's question was Hong Chengchou. Hong Chengchou's words did not sound very modest, but Zhu Youjian knew that what this man said was the honest truth.

This Hong Chengchou really was a self-taught military strategist! Back in the day, serving under that soft-hearted Governor-General Yang He as grain-supply administrator, when a peasant uprising broke out he volunteered, as a civil official, to lead a rabble of troops to suppress it — and unexpectedly won battle after battle, his fame spreading far and wide, and because of it he was appointed Governor of Yansui. Later history would prove that Chongzhen's appointment was completely wrong: Chongzhen should have made him Governor-General of the Three Frontiers of Shaanxi directly and sent that "nice-guy governor" Yang He packing early. That way, perhaps under Hong Chengchou's policy of total extermination, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and the rest would all have been killed off before they ever grew powerful!

"Your Majesty," Chen Qiyu said, "this subject has likewise never led troops, but he too has thoroughly studied the military classics; he only lacks experience in command."

You're also short a bit of brains! Zhu Youjian thought to himself: you're far inferior to Hong Chengchou, but still worth using.

"Your Majesty, though this subject is a scholar, he comes from a military-register family, with generations of soldiers, and has long served on the frontier. He knows something of military affairs and has also trained in the martial arts."

Sun Chuanting's caliber was naturally not something Hong Chengchou and Chen Qiyu could match. Hong Chengchou and Chen Qiyu had only the talent of a marshal, not the talent of a general. That is to say, these two could command great armies in battle, but could not personally train troops from scratch. Sun Chuanting, though a civil official, was second to none among military officers in the art of training troops. He had twice raised armies, forming two Qin armies in succession, both of which became the core armed forces of the Chongzhen Emperor. What was even more remarkable was that the Qin armies were not small in number, yet cost little money and did a great deal of work. Sun Chuanting's ability was plain to see!

"Your Majesty, though this subject is not of military-register origin, he has practiced martial arts since childhood and has also thoroughly studied the military classics," Lu Xiangsheng said.

Lu Xiangsheng, the youngest of the four, was tall and thin, with very fair skin, and looked every inch a frail scholar. Who could have imagined that this man could not only train and command troops, but could personally mount a horse and charge the enemy lines — utterly unstoppable in his valor!

Of course, by now Zhu Youjian's horizons had broadened: he was a military scholar well versed in both Eastern and Western military science! Although a military scholar and a military commander were not the same thing, he knew a great deal. He had thoroughly read all the textbooks of the Nanjing Military Academy that his unfilial son had established — he could not recite them backwards, but he had completely mastered the knowledge in those textbooks, and could now select some knowledge that happened to be useful and pass it on to his teachers first.

Still, a student teaching his teachers sounded a bit odd, and did not quite accord with the tradition of respecting teachers and honoring the Way. Zhu Youjian looked at the four lecturers before him — all were scholars who had passed the jinshi examination, and most likely cared about face.

At that thought, Zhu Youjian nodded and said: "We are the same as you four gentlemen: We have also practiced martial arts, have also thoroughly studied the military classics, and even know how to use arquebuses and cannon — but We too have never truly led troops into battle. One might call it armchair strategy! But armchair strategy does not necessarily fail to produce fine generals and famous marshals. Since ancient times, not all generals and marshals have risen from the ranks! Men like Sun Wu and Xiang Han — did they not also never serve as common soldiers?

Moreover, we still have Master Yang and Advisor Sun, two veteran commanders long tested in battle, to guide us!"

Hong Chengchou, Chen Qiyu, Sun Chuanting, and Lu Xiangsheng were all somewhat baffled by these words — were they not supposed to be lecturers? How had they suddenly become fellow students?

Were they supposed to study warfare together under Yang Gao and Sun Zushou? But those two were not much good at fighting themselves! What good could come of learning from them?

Zhu Youjian knew that Hong Chengchou, Chen Qiyu, Sun Chuanting, and Lu Xiangsheng did not respect Yang Gao and Sun Zushou — and in truth, he did not think Yang Gao and Sun Zushou could teach anything remarkable either.

But he still needed the nominal cover of these two. Otherwise, a seventeen-year-old boy emperor, raised from childhood deep within the palace, who had not studied much — yet somehow knew everything — would that not be far too strange?

Zhu Youjian paused, then continued: "These years Master Yang has been diligently studying military texts inside the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Imperial Prison, summing up lessons, and has made considerable progress in the way of training troops and fighting battles. A few days ago he presented to Us a method of training troops and a set of battle-formation tactics. Today We shall explain them to you gentlemen."

There was such a thing?

Hong Chengchou, Chen Qiyu, Sun Chuanting, Lu Xiangsheng, and Sun Zushou all looked at Yang Gao, only to see Yang Gao's old eyes opened wide, his face full of astonishment and bewilderment.

As he spoke, Zhu Youjian unrolled a scroll on the writing desk before him, then beckoned to Hong Chengchou, Chen Qiyu, Sun Chuanting, Lu Xiangsheng, Sun Zushou, and Yang Gao to come forward and look.

The moment the men stepped up, they saw that the scroll Zhu Youjian had spread open bore a very strange battle formation.

This formation was composed of one large square, four small squares, and a dozen or so long strips. Beneath every large and small square and every long strip, words had been written with a brush.

Beneath the large square was written "pike square"; beneath the four small squares was written "arquebus formation"; and beneath the long strips were written respectively "field artillery formation" and "lancer cavalry formation."

If Hong Chengchou, Chen Qiyu, Sun Chuanting, Lu Xiangsheng, Sun Zushou, and Yang Gao had understood a little of Western military science, they would have seen the key at a glance.

This was a standard Spanish tercio!

The advanced feature of this Spanish tercio lay in its coordination of multiple arms.

Zhu Youjian said: "This battle formation uses the pike formation as its ramparts, the arquebus formation to protect the pike formation, field artillery to bombard the enemy formation from a distance, and cavalry to screen the flanks and to be used for surprise outflanking maneuvers. In actual battle, multiple large pike formations and small arquebus formations will be combined to form two lines of large battalions. Supplemented by artillery and large bodies of cavalry able to maneuver on the battlefield, it should ensure that nothing can go wrong.

Gentlemen, Advisor Sun — what do you think?"

The gentlemen were all armchair strategists, and could not figure it out all at once. Sun Zushou was a general accomplished in both civil and military arts; naturally he had thoroughly studied the military classics ancient and modern, and knew how to apply them flexibly. Moreover, he had no household retainers, so his skill in battle formations was applied to infantry. Looking at the Spanish tercio that Zhu Youjian had drawn, he immediately felt his eyes light up!

This formation looked simple, but it was extremely practical!

He never imagined that Yang Gao, after eight years in the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Imperial Prison, had actually grown more capable!

"Your Majesty," Sun Zushou had already begun his appraisal, "this formation is excellent! It can completely counter the Tartars' tactics. If the Tartars charge straight in with cavalry, the great pike formation can deal with them. If the Tartars use dismounted death-squads supported by shield carts to attack, the field guns can smash the shield carts, and the turtledove-foot arquebuses can cut down their death-squads. If the Tartars try to outflank with mounted cavalry, we have cavalry of our own to tangle with them. However—"

At that point, Sun Zushou suddenly fell silent, his brows tightly knit, as if deep in thought.

Zhu Youjian smiled and said: "However, this formation places extremely high demands on soldiers, officers, and equipment! The frontier army's garrison troops as they now stand probably cannot deploy it, and even if they forced themselves to, they could not use it with ease. Moreover, our equipment is not up to it either — the cannon and arquebuses are all still somewhat lacking!"

"Your Majesty is sagacious," Sun Zushou said again. "Although this formation can use infantry to overcome cavalry, to truly bring out its power it still requires iron cavalry in coordination. Only when cavalry relies on the formation, working with artillery and infantry, and repeatedly sallies forth, can its full might be displayed."

A true professional after all — he saw the crux of the matter at a glance.

The Spanish tercio was designed precisely to counter cavalry, yet this formation still could not do without cavalry support!

(End of Chapter)