Chapter 778: The Prince of Condé's Questions and Answers

"Your Highness, welcome to China!"

The Prince of Condé's mood quickly improved, because unlike the group of grim-faced old gentlemen, the Emperor of the Great Ming Empire was a very warm and enthusiastic young man who could also speak fluent French.

"Your Majesty, your French is excellent." The Prince of Condé had already bowed to Zhu Cilang, then seated himself on an embroidered stool — Zhu Cilang did not stand much on ceremony and would not quibble over such a matter with a foreign envoy received under equal diplomatic relations.

Of course, envoys from vassal states had to strictly observe the rites of a subject, and according to Ming protocol they had to perform however many kowtows were required. But a foreign envoy under equal diplomatic relations was, from a legal standpoint, not a subject of Zhu Cilang but rather his guest.

"I learned it from Johann Adam Schall von Bell," Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "He is also my teacher."

Schall had not returned to China together with the Prince of Condé and Li Shaoyou; he was waiting for Innocent X, who was in his seventies or eighties and in very poor health, to pass away.

Innocent X was a rather rigid pope, not easy to deal with. But Cardinal Chigi, the strong favorite to succeed him, was a more flexible figure. If he were elected, perhaps a solution acceptable to both sides could be found for the dispute over the patronato.

In addition, Schall also hoped to reach a treaty with King Philip IV of Spain aimed at avoiding direct conflict between the two countries.

Zhu Cilang paused, and Xu Ermo translated the content of his conversation with Condé into Chinese, telling the military officers in the great hall.

"Your Highness," Zhu Cilang continued, "Father Schall has mentioned to me more than once the great victory you achieved at Rocroi. That was in 1643, was it not? You were only twenty-three years old at the time. Truly remarkable!"

The Battle of Rocroi was the battle that made the Great Condé famous, and it was also the battle that ended Spain's hegemony on land!

"You flatter me," the Great Condé said with a smile. "You were not yet twenty when you commanded the Battle of Blood Stream, younger than I was then. That was also a very remarkable battle!"

The Battle of Blood Stream and the Battle of Turtle Mountain were the two battle cases explained in the greatest detail at the Nanjing Military Academy — because the academy possessed detailed materials on these two battles, including not only data and battle diagrams from the Ming side on troop strength, equipment, pre-battle maneuvers, wartime formations, wartime movements, losses, and results, but also materials on the Qing side gathered through the channels of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

While waiting for Zhu Cilang's court to return to Nanjing, the Prince of Condé and his staff had already studied these two battle cases over and over again, along with other Ming-Qing, Ming-Shun, and Qing-Shun battle cases for which materials were less complete, and had even studied materials on the Japanese-Qing Battle of Sakhalin — obtained by the Ming embassy in Japan through the Matsumae family.

After studying these battle cases, the Great Condé became even more certain of the judgment he had formed when he first saw the ranks of the Ming army's elite infantry and cavalry.

Zhu Cilang said with a smile: "That was indeed a very crucial victory. The present north-south standoff was established by that battle and the later Battle of Turtle Mountain. And now I wish to break this standoff, and therefore I hope to obtain your help. Your Highness, for the friendship between the Great Ming and France, I hope you will consider serving as my chief military advisor and explaining to me and my generals the classic battles of the Thirty Years' War! For although we now possess equipment and training roughly comparable to the armies of the European great powers, we do not know how to employ them most effectively. Our experience is insufficient."

The Prince of Condé said with a smile: "Your Majesty, I am very willing to serve you. However, there is one point I must make: your army cannot yet compare with the armies of the European great powers in equipment and training!"

"Is that so?" Zhu Cilang asked with a smile. "Then in what areas do you think we are still deficient?"

"Artillery and mounted troops." Condé said, "If we speak purely of equipment and training, your field artillery has not yet formed a system, though it is sufficient for dealing with the Qing armies to the north. But your mounted troops are both outdated and impractical. Therefore, at the operational level, your enemy, the Qing army, holds the initiative.

If it were not for the low-cost earthen bastion forts limiting the Qing army's advantage at the strategic level and making it difficult for them to attack deep into your territory, you would be even more passive."

"You are right," Zhu Cilang nodded. "Our weakness is indeed in cavalry. The main problem is the lack of fine warhorses, and this problem is gradually being solved."

"No, Your Majesty, I said mounted troops, including but not limited to cavalry." Condé said, "In fact, the reason your army is passive at the operational level is not a lack of knights or shock cavalry, but a lack of a mounted force for doing odd jobs."

"A mounted force for doing odd jobs?" Zhu Cilang asked. "Do you mean the kind of light cavalry that undertakes reconnaissance, harassment, and battlefield interdiction?"

"It could also be mounted infantry," Condé said with a smile. "I have noticed that the northern Qing currently control the Mongol steppe, which means they possess a highly mobile mounted force. In the area of light cavalry, your knights would find it very difficult to contend with them. So why not use mounted infantry equipped with muskets and sabers? The Qing seem to have used just such troops on Sakhalin. Why do you not have similar troops?"

"You mean dragoons?"

"More or less," Condé said. "In fact, they are just troops for odd jobs, very effective against backward nomadic peoples, and they can also play a considerable role on the European battlefield. A few thousand troops equipped with flintlocks, capable of fighting both mounted and dismounted, could completely change the Ming army's passivity at the operational level."

Zhu Cilang shook his head: "But the Qing's mounted skirmishers are all skilled at riding and shooting, and their close-combat ability is also very strong, and they are numerous!"

"Oh, it is like this," the Prince of Condé said. "Troops on horseback have more initiative than troops advancing on foot. The mobility of horses combined with flintlocks and 3-pounder guns is initiative. So they do not necessarily have to engage the enemy in mounted combat. Perhaps they can set ambushes, perhaps they can launch night raids, perhaps they can dismount and occupy favorable terrain, perhaps they can escape.

And their targets need not be the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry; they could also be the enemy's grain convoys, or villages with little defense, or wheat fields about to be harvested. They could even form groups of two thousand or more, hauling 3-pounder horse artillery and 24-pounder mortars to attack castles in the enemy's rear!

Of course, such odd-job troops are also very useful in a main battle! They can seize favorable terrain, pursue remnants of a defeated enemy, turn the enemy's flank or rear, set ambushes on the battlefield, rapidly reinforce or join an attack, and even maneuver while hauling 3-pounder guns.

And if the battle is lost, they can also cover the main force's retreat!

So, in my view, spending so much money to import Arabian horses is not very useful, and they are too expensive. Those short, chubby horses bred in China are sufficient. With that money, you would be better off acquiring more heavy draft horses; they are very important for logistics and the motorization of artillery.

As for those big knights of yours, they are truly very outdated and useless. If employed as shock cavalry, they need large European warhorses to carry them at speed. If committed to close combat as dismounted knights, they are inferior to flintlock musketeers equipped with bayonets. As for the skill of shooting arrows from horseback, it is of little use in the age of cannon and musket. You would be better off disbanding them and having these big fellows undergo officer training, then go to the lower levels to lead troops. In the Thirty Years' War in Europe, the losses among junior officers were astonishing!"

The Ming military officers in the Hall of Venerating Heaven listened to Xu Ermo's relay of the "Prince Kong's Questions and Answers," and all put away their expressions of contempt.

This iron M-king of France, it seems, really does have some skill after all!

Of course, admitting defeat was impossible, but for the sake of the Emperor's face, they would grudgingly go and take a few remedial lessons!

(End of Chapter)