"It's useless. You can't fight in winter, so it's useless no matter how thick you wear it."

In the military room, the emperor and Xu Guangqi sat on the blanket. The ground dragons in the palace were very warm. The emperor changed his body to brown and swayed his feet in felt socks and said, "The next route to march is Qingping Town in Chahar."

Qingping Town was a name changed by Lan Yu when he attacked the Northern Yuan Dynasty. It was called Yingchang during the Yuan Dynasty. It was located at the southern end of the Great Xing'an Mountains and on the banks of the Western Liao River. It was later under the Duoyanwei, the rule of the Daningdu Sub-Shi. It is now the territory of the Chahar tribe.

"If the weather is warm, Qingping Town is not a problem. The army will be overwhelmed by the wind. But now it is cold today. Qi Shuai failed to persuade the surrender. The army was already frozen halfway and had to return to the army Daning."

The emperor said this and said, "The herdsmen who returned to the tribe from Wulianghai said that no matter how thick they wear in winter, people will be frozen to death when they march outside."

"Especially now, it's getting colder every year."

Xu Guangqi deeply agreed and nodded and responded: "I only had two or three days of snow when I was a child. It was half a month ago. It was so cold that I dared not go out."

"But this year, His Majesty has prepared such thick eastern clothes for the troops to go to the Frontier, and they must be warmer than the border troops in Senei."

Wanli likes to be flattered, especially when he thinks he has done something worthy of praise, so he smiles satisfied, but this smile lasts for only a moment.

He shook his head and said, "I can't distribute such winter clothes to the entire army. I have sent nearly 50,000 troops out of the pass this year. The four battalions of Qi Shuai were the leaders of the battle. The remaining ones from the Beijing Army and seven guards recruited more than 30,000 soldiers to build roads and transport supplies. Before the food behind was delivered, the food in front was eaten up."

"I bought more than 20,000 sets of winter clothes before, which was just enough for Qi Shuai's troops to wear. Many guards behind them were difficult to prepare for winter. The Ministry of War was very capable of purchasing, but they could only prepare a cotton jacket for the guards."

"I'm not prepared enough."

The emperor was a little annoyed. He always felt that he was wise and had a complete plan and could put any good words on him, but this time he went out of the frontier really made him uncomfortable: "And it's not a mistake for the military commander, it's very annoying."

The Ministry of War considered everything well, but it did not consider that the emperor was not only thinking about conquest, but actually occupying it.

This war is different from the past, and the form of war has been fundamentally changed.

Since Tumu Fort, the Ming Dynasty had to choose passive defense against the Northern Barbarians due to years of disasters and fiscal deficits. It was not until Emperor Longqing that he had a little tendency to move towards active defense. In fact, it was not until the Wanli Dynasty that he had really saved enough money and could fight an active defense battle.

In the past, he was defending the enemy within the national border, but now he was defending the enemy outside the national border. He asked Qi Jiguang to go to the outside of the pass to recover the three guards of Urianha, and it was very good to fight with great power... But according to the script prepared by the Ministry of War before the war, General Qi should have led his army to enter the pass by triumphantly now.

But the emperor must continue to fight and must let Qi Jiguang garrison in Daning City.

In the official documents of the Ministry of War, this is called the army suffering twice as much casualties, and the army consumes ten times as much as before.

The casualties can be ignored. Qi Jiguang led his army from the south to the north, with more confrontations and fewer battles. The total casualties was less than 100, and it would be less than 200 if it doubled. This emperor could bear it, but the consumption was ten times. Who could withstand it?

According to the original estimate of the Ministry of War, there is no need for the Qi family army to be stationed in Daning City in winter. Since the three Guards of Urianha have been recovered, they will be allowed to station outside the pass. They have been severely damaged by their vitality. Even if they rebel, they can go out of the pass and solve them easily next year.

Although this may not bring benefits, most of the expenditure is burned. When the Qi family army enters the pass, naturally there is no need for more than 30,000 baggage teams. Without baggage teams, there is no need to spend money on their own, let alone road consumption.

The military book says that the best way to transport baggage is to eat and the enemy, but there is no war or newly defeated enemies. You can eat for one day or two days, and there is no problem in ten or eight days. You can't eat for a winter. Wulianghai no longer has a tribe that refuses to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, Wanli did not think that Qi Jiguang's troops had the ability to attack in winter. For example, the set of cotton iron armor he prepared was completely sent to Daning City. However, the Qi family army in the past did not wear the warmest duck down fat jacket, only the cotton jacket.

As for the flag army in charge of transportation, the cotton coat is even simpler.

"But we have some advantages in the end. The cotton coats of the Tuman tribes are not as good as my troops. Next year, they can leave at least one month earlier than they expected. This is very important."

As he said that, the emperor raised his hand in front of him and said seriously: "But now, I have something more important to ask you to do."

Xu Guangqi stood up without saying a word and said, "Please give me instructions, I will do it."

Wanli smiled, waved his hand and asked him to sit down, and asked, "Don't be so nervous, it's not a big deal. I heard that you had tinkered with the two Fire De Star Lords in Tsinghua Garden and installed one on the bird boat?"

"Yes." Xu Guangqi's expression was very excited, and even his body leaned forward, saying, "Xiaochen did not install a second one, but just slightly improved the original steamer of the bird boat and installed a second cylinder, so that it could cycle back and forth on the left and right."

Xu Guangqi said as he raised three fingers to the emperor and said, "The ship speed is 30% faster, Your Majesty."

The emperor actually didn't understand what it means to install two cylinders. He was used to treating the Fire De Star Lord as a living thing. If there was no such thing as tying another person's arm on this person, he would be more powerful.

"I will go and see it myself when the Baoding King is finished, but now, there are two things that are more important than the ship."

No matter how important the steamboat is, the emperor did not intend to use it before taking over the royal family of the Imperial Coal Mine. As long as it is not used, it is the emperor's own gadget on the lake in front of Tsinghua Park. It is not much different for him at an hour forty miles and an hour forty miles.

Anyway, if he was on the boat, he wouldn't have any feelings; if he was in the water, he wouldn't be able to catch up no matter how he swam.

"I plan to find King Baoding to take back his farmland and rent it, and not to be collected in vain... The land is mine, but use his land to pay him the rent, you pay it."

Xu Guangqi was still happy in front of him, thinking that he would definitely appreciate his achievements when the emperor went to Tsinghua Park to see his achievements, but then he was stunned: "Little, I'm paying me? Your Majesty, I don't even have money to rent a house in the capital, what should I give to King Baoding?"

"I give it to you, I have money."

The emperor told Xu Guangqi very seriously that he was rich, saying: "You have to open two factories, one is a canning factory to prepare military rations for Qi Shuai's expedition next year; and the other is an iron smelting factory to build rails and iron wheels that meet the specifications."

"You will keep these two factories on my behalf first. When the right time comes, I will use the seal to stamp it for you."
Chapter completed!