Qiming 1158

Chapter 1108 Zhao Tan is a rare domineering monarch

With strong anger, dissatisfaction and worry, Zhao Tan first approved the Privy Council's request for recruitment.

Then an additional sum of money was allocated to the Ordnance Department.

He asked the Ordnance Department to study a firearm like an iron pipe that could destroy an army formation with one shot, as well as a firearm with a smaller size that could be fired in his hand and pierced through armor and shields.

Don't forget, they both fire projectiles.

Regarding the requirement to study ordnance, Zhao Tan only gave the craftsmen in the ordnance department three months, and he asked them to develop these two firearms within three months to deal with the Ming army.

At present, the entire Southern Song Dynasty's understanding of the Ming army's new firearms is still based on the appearance, and it is not clear how the new firearms are operated and fired.

They don't know why an iron pipe can spray a large iron ball to destroy an army formation, and they don't know how this thing is cast.

All their sources of information were the [Death Message] sent back by Li Xianzhong.

And how much moisture this death message is, it is hard to say, at least someone who knows it will never say anything like destroying an army formation with one blow, but Li Xianzhong obviously couldn't distinguish it accurately at the time.

But it’s not bad. The exaggerated rhetorical techniques of ancient literati are too common. Everything can be adjusted like black technology. The range of bows and crossbows can be adjusted to be as stable and ruthless as modern firearms. Not only the range is long, but the accuracy is also high. , Take people's lives with a blow from seven or eight hundred meters away...

Then why did later generations invent firearms?
Why keep rifling, aiming and rear sighting?
These are things that literati who write history books do not consider.

It was also something that Emperor Zhao Tan would not consider.

Zhao Tan's idea is very simple.

Since such firearms exist in the Ming Dynasty and are still so powerful, they must be manufactured so that the Song Dynasty can also use them, otherwise, it is the incompetence of your group of craftsmen.

The court does not raise incompetent people!

Zhao Tan felt that as long as they put enough pressure on the people below, in order to survive, they would be able to perform some miracles.

He didn't care how desperate and panic the artisans in the Ordnance Department learned about this executive order, he only knew that he needed firearms, powerful firearms, and firearms that could fight against the Ming army.

Isn't that the case with firearms?
As long as the money is in place, what else can't be done?
Get it out for me!
Can't figure it out and kill you!
In this matter, Zhao Tan rarely became a domineering monarch.

It feels pretty good.

Then on other issues, Zhao Tan began to hesitate.

Whether to send troops, whether to transfer troops, and the current situation in Xiangfan, etc., the ministers have different opinions, and they can only investigate the current situation of Xiangfan first, and then discuss what to do next.

But as time went on, instead of good news, there was more and more bad news, and it became more and more frightening.

At the beginning of June, they learned that the Ming army began to attack the prefectures around Xiangfan. Many officials and wealthy households in the prefectures around Xiangfan chose to flee, and then brought the news.

At first, the news they brought was the news that the Ming army was ferocious and they had to flee, but as they went on, the news they brought was that Xiangfan had fallen and the Ming army had begun a large-scale siege of the city.

Xiangfan lost?

Zhao Tan first heard the news in mid-June.

He heard that there were rumors in the palace that Xiangfan had fallen, Jinghu was completely destroyed, and the Ming army had begun to advance to Lin'an.

He was shocked and angry, and immediately ordered the palace staff to go out to inquire about specific information, and inquired about the relevant situation of the Privy Council.

It was not long after Zhou Linzhi took over the Privy Council. Although he had served as the Privy Council, it still took some time to start the work. Even so, he had heard some rumors in Lin'an City.

But this was not a real hammer, because the professional spies he sent out had not brought back the real news.

Therefore, his feedback to Zhao Tan should belong to rumors, not real news. It is estimated that someone has bad intentions and wants to shake the determination of Lin'an military and civilians to resist the Ming army and help the Song Dynasty.

Speaking of this, Zhao Tan instantly became vigilant.

A while ago, the fugitives of the Ming Dynasty landlords and squires who had been secretly used were wiped out at the secret station outside Lin'an City, and they were all killed by the mysterious force. When Yu Yunwen reported the news to Zhao Tan, Zhao Tan very shocked.

In Zhao Tan's view, this group of people has been out of the public eye for a long time, and they have been lurking outside Lin'an City, hiding well, and only he, Yu Yunwen and a few eunuchs know the entire action plan, which can be hidden to the greatest extent possible. information.

But even so, the situation leaked out. The group of Ming traitors were all wiped out, and there was no news of the 300 people sent by Yu Yunwen to destroy the dam. In Yu Yunwen's view, they should have been annihilated by the Ming Dynasty.

If they hadn't been discovered, it wouldn't have been possible that even the small villages outside Lin'an City would have been discovered and wiped out.

This is a very scary thing.

Basically, what can be confirmed is that their conspiracy was known to Minguo, so Mingguo sent a professional team to deal with them and sent them away, but Zhao Kan and Yu Yunwen didn't know who leaked the news.

It is impossible for Zhao Tan to leak the news himself, and Yu Yunwen is the proposer and executor of the whole plan, and it is impossible to leak the news.

So who is it?

The eunuchs?
In order to get rid of the calamity, Zhao Tan ordered all the dozens of eunuchs who assisted Yu Yunwen to be killed, and their existence on earth was terminated.

After all the eunuchs were killed, Zhao Tan and Yu Yunwen's worries could not be eased, because since the news was leaked, the Ming Kingdom must have known what they wanted to do. This should be a situation that Su Yonglin could never bear. React.

But months have passed and there is no reflection.

Or is this war a reaction?

No, he hadn't sent anyone north when the war started.

Moreover, those eunuchs screamed before they died that they were not sinners and that they had not leaked secrets, which made Yu Yunwen feel that there seemed to be a force belonging to the Ming kingdom in the entire Lin'an city secretly operating, spying on news, in order to bring the most important people The information was passed on to the Ming Kingdom.

With such an idea in mind, Yu Yunwen asked Zhao Tan to assign him a team to investigate those who might have learned about the matter and leaked secrets about it, so that they could investigate the hidden forces in Lin'an City that belonged to the Ming Kingdom.

Zhao Tan agreed to Yu Yunwen's request, and took a group of people from his personal bodyguards and handed them over to Yu Yunwen's command for him to investigate.

But the effect was not great, and no valuable clues were found.

This time, there was no harvest either. The news circulating in Lin'an City was not deliberately spread, but the news brought by a group of squires from the Xiangfan area who had fled to Lin'an City. They said that Xiangfan was over, and the Ming Kingdom started a large-scale operation. .

Yu Yunwen sent people to investigate them, but found nothing.

If it is still a folk rumor so far, then after a few days, some local bureaucrats escaped and brought the news of Xiangfan's fall through official channels, which would be much more valuable.

For example, Meng Xiang, the prefect of De'an Prefecture, brought back very accurate news.

He said that Xiangfan was lost and the entire Song army was annihilated. The Ming army began a large-scale attack on the prefectures around Xiangfan. There was no established Song army around Xiangfan that could resist the Song army. He tried his best to defend the city and could not resist the Ming army. go to the city.

Alright now, the news the officials brought back can't be considered a rumor, can it?

The civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty were about to break the defense collectively and go berserk because of this incident, but Zhao Tan was even more angry.

He publicly stated that he did not believe the news that Meng Xiang brought back, and also said that under the strict trial, he learned that Meng Xiang was a meticulous work of the Ming Kingdom, accepted the task of the Ming Kingdom and returned to deceive the emperor, intending to flatter the emperor of the Ming Kingdom for credit.

What Meng Xiang did were all instructions from the Ming Kingdom, and it was completely false news, just to shake the will of the emperors and ministers of the Song Dynasty to fight.

The strong city of Xiangfan is still under the control of the Song army, how could it fall so quickly?

Xiangfan is such a strong city in the world, how could it be conquered by the Ming army in just three months?
This is Ming Guo's plan!
(End of this chapter)