Chapter 776: Make-Up Classes First, Then War

Have a prince of France serve as a teacher, instructing the generals of the Great Ming in how to fight wars?

The very sound of it is a bit awkward!

"Your Majesty," the Grand Strategist Li Yan spoke up, "our China has a history of several thousand years, and the military treatises and methods of war handed down are beyond counting. So long as we learn them well, we can naturally overcome the enemy and win victory. There is no need to study any Western art of war."

Zhu Cilang snorted inwardly: You're speaking up for that bunch of academically hopeless generals of roving-bandit origin under your command, aren't you? And as for learning well the military treatises and methods of war handed down over several thousand years — do they even recognize that many characters?

"Right, right, right!" Wu Xiang immediately nodded along as well. "Our China has so many military treatises that we can't even finish studying them all. Where would we find the time to study any Western art of war? This old subject truly feels there is no such need."

Zhu Cilang naturally would not listen to Wu Xiang either — your son Wu Sangui studied so many Chinese military treatises, and in the end, when he fought the War of the Three Feudatories, did he not still fall flat?

Wu Sanfu, however, had broadened his horizons somewhat, and said to Zhu Cilang: "Your Majesty, our land forces have been drilling troops by Western methods for these past years. I dare not say we have fully grasped their essence, but we have learned them nine parts out of ten. Shi Ruien himself says our Maurice-style square is extremely formidable — even the elite troops trained by the Stadtholder Maurice of Holland are no better than this."

Pride and complacency will not do!

Zhu Cilang then turned his gaze to Li Ruolian. Li Ruolian shook his head: "Your Majesty, this subject does not know what this prince of France can teach us. The way of employing troops has always been to adapt to the enemy. The Western countries are small states with few people — when have they ever faced a powerful enemy like the eastern barbarians? Moreover, the West and China differ in terrain, differ in popular customs, and differ in the form of government. A military science suited to the West is not necessarily suited to China. I beg Your Majesty to think thrice."

Although the current Ming New Army had extensively adopted Western methods in its infantry regiments, battalions, companies, and other mid- and lower-level units, as well as in its artillery forces, its cavalry still followed the traditional East Asian path, and at the level of campaign organization it left much to be desired.

To put it vividly, it was somewhat like the French army at the start of the Second World War — although equipped with large numbers of tanks and armored vehicles, it still wanted to fight a trench war against the Germans.

This was not because the Ming generals were slow-witted, but because there had been no process of exploration and summation.

Military science, from the campaign level downward, is basically empiricism. It insists on new technology first, then new equipment, then the groping out of new tactics, and only finally mature methods of campaign organization.

The new methods of warfare, new tactics, and new methods of campaign organization over in Europe were all slowly groped out during the Thirty Years' War. And the Grand Condé and Turenne were both the great synthesizers of the Thirty Years' War era. They not only took part in and commanded many successful campaigns, but also had a vast number of battle examples from which to draw on the experience of others.

The generals of Zhu Cilang's Overcoming-Hardship New Army, by contrast, had mastered the Maurice square, could build bastion forts, and knew how to employ artillery. But apart from the few "new-style wars" fought between Ming and Qing, they had no battle examples to study.

With no battle examples to study, at the level of campaign organization they naturally could not come "alive."

Now that Teacher Condé has come to China to open a cram school, bringing with him the battle examples and precious experience of the Thirty Years' War, why not hurry up and sign up to study?

Zhu Cilang then turned his gaze to Zheng Zhilong, the man who had "opened his eyes to see the world."

Zheng Zhilong said: "Your Majesty, this old subject knows there are several young talents in the Dongning Army who have all studied military science at the Military Academy and have led troops in Dongning. Why not let them all come and become students of this Prince of France?"

The Dongning Army also had a land force — not large in scale, but quite elite. Its officers had all studied at the Military Academy, and several were exceptionally outstanding. But because the Overcoming-Hardship New Army excluded southerners, they could only hold office in the Dongning Army.

Zhu Cilang smiled and said: "Very well. Let the Senior Brother also pick a few promising officer candidates and bring them along."

"Zheng Sen is coming too?" Zheng Zhilong asked.

"Of course!" Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "This class must be made up! Old Father-in-law, don't think that just because the Senior Brother is a jinshi he can skip the make-up class."

What? Zheng Zhilong was stunned. Even a jinshi had to attend make-up classes?

Zhu Cilang said: "Not only must the Senior Brother come to make up this class — Wu Sangui, the Prince of Dai, Shi Kefa, Zuo Maodi, Wu Guoyong, Li Chengdong, Huang Degong, Gao Jie, Hao Yaoqi — they all must come to make it up! Wu Xiang, Li Yan, Sanfu, Ruolian — you must make it up too!" His tone deepened. "We shall also attend this make-up class together with you! Whoever We have named, if any does not come, let him go home and look after the children!"

And so, the Prince of Condé became a military make-up tutor. And the commanders and generals of the Great Ming all had to go to cram school together with Zhu Cilang!

At this, everyone was stunned. Apart from Zheng Zhilong, who kept the accounts, they all had to go to cram school — and they had to attend make-up classes together with the youngsters of the Dongning Army that Zheng Sen was bringing along!

Old Master Wu Xiang asked: "Th-then are we still going to fight the eastern barbarians?"

Indeed — if the generals had all gone off to cram school, was the war still going to be fought or not?

"No delay!" said Zhu Cilang. "First the make-up classes; once they've learned, then they go fight. It's not as if they're starting from scratch. Isn't a year's time enough?"

This was the first time anyone had heard of such a thing — with battle imminent, the generals apparently didn't even know how to fight, and still had to attend cram school to learn on the spot! Could such a war still be won?

Could it be that the fortune of the Great Qing had not yet run out?

At this time, the Prince of Condé of France was on his way from Shanghai to Nanjing, escorted by Luo Dagong and Shi Ruien, the Vice Chancellor of the Nanjing Military Academy.

They did not go by boat, but rode to Nanjing on all the short, stout Hequ horses the Military Academy possessed. To show solemnity, the Zhu Emperor had also ordered Shi Ruien to bring a company of large-framed plate-armored cavalry and a company of the Xiaoling Guard's imperial guards — cavalry in front, infantry behind, escorting him in a grand procession as they set out.

This was just after the New Year — the first month of the fifth year of Hongxing, February 1652 by the Western calendar. The weather in Jiangnan was still very cold; snow lay on both sides of the official road, and many small streams and rivers were still covered with thin ice. Because of the cold, farming had not yet begun, but many of the market towns along the way had already begun to stir with activity — commerce and handicraft production resumed immediately after the fifteenth of the first month.

In every market town Condé passed through, he could see a scene of bustling activity — once a country of one hundred and thirty million people entered the primary stage of capitalism with its great industrial and commercial development, the vitality it burst forth with was truly astonishing.

Indeed, the economy of the Great Ming's southeast, Huguang, and Guangdong was no longer a mere "sprout of capitalism" — it had crossed that high threshold and formally entered the primary stage.

And the marker of entering the primary stage of capitalism was the "Hongxing Reform," promoted by Zhu Cilang beginning in the eighteenth year of Chongzhen. The Hongxing Reform had two key points. The first was opening up — a great opening up, both domestic and foreign!

The second was the dismantling of the commendation system that existed in agriculture, industry, and commerce — this meant the arrival of an era that was comparatively free, comparatively able to protect private property, and full of competition!

But the Prince of Condé was no economic expert. He had no idea at all that he was standing on the soil of a country about to take off economically.

His attention was completely captured by the European-style infantry around him and the cavalry that looked so incongruous beside it.

The Ming infantry looked excellent. Apart from their armor using joined plate rather than a single solid breastplate, and their muskets still being fired by matchlock, everything else could compare with the best infantry in Europe.

And by the way, these Chinese had also "invented" a long bayonet that could be fitted over the muzzle — truly a simple and practical design!

But their cavalry was very strange. Many large-framed riders sat on short, stout horses — and they were armored knights at that, carrying bows and arrows, with very long-looking lances on their backs, and some also carrying an iron club that could be wielded with one hand. How heavy must that be! Could those short, stout horses even carry them in a charge?

"Ruien, are these Chinese knights all dismounted knights?" Prince Condé finally could not help asking.

The person he asked was Shi Ruien.

"Your Highness," said Shi Ruien — himself already a count (the Count of Overcoming Hardship and Pacifying the North of the Great Ming) — still maintaining a respectful manner toward the Prince of Condé. He answered in fluent French: "They are traditional Eastern cavalry. They can dismount and fight hand-to-hand, can charge on horseback, can shoot arrows from horseback, and can also shoot arrows on foot. Each man is a quite valiant warrior, the elite of the Chinese army."

Condé thought seriously for a moment, then said: "I think I have found a major defect in the Chinese army!"

(End of Chapter)