I want to be emperor

Chapter 332 Chongzhen Fundraising
Azig could hardly believe his eyes!

He knew about the Hongyi cannons, and he knew that the Ming army was equipped with a lot of Hongyi cannons, and the Hongyi cannons on many cities outside the pass were their enemies.

If it weren't for these Hongyi cannons, they would have taken down many cities outside the pass, including strategically important places like Jinzhou.

It is precisely because of this that Dongyao attaches great importance to the Hongyi cannon. In the fourth year of Chongzhen, he tried to imitate the Hongyi cannon with captive craftsmen, and it was officially named "God Bless the Cheering Cannon". And set up 'Wuzhenchaoha', that is, the artillery unit, and participated in the battle of Dalinghe.

A few years ago, Kong Youde, Geng Jingzhong, Shang Kexi and other generals of the Ming army successively led their troops to surrender to the Dongbai, and brought many red barbarian cannons and a group of craftsmen who made the red barbarian cannons to the Dongyao. The pace of manufacturing Hongyi Cannon is also on the fast track.

This has made Dongyao use the red barbarian cannons to assist in the battle now.

Azig, as a senior general in Dongyaoli, even this time they went out to fight, they also carried many red barbarian cannons.

It’s just that this time because of the long journey, and their purpose is not to conquer those fortified cities, but simply to plunder the population, livestock, money and food, and they will not have to fight when they encounter strong defense cities... …

Isn't it delicious to go directly to the countryside to plunder it?
Therefore, the Hongyi cannons they carry are not too many, and more are just in case.

As for now, these Hongyi cannons are still in the Chinese army, and he, Azig, did not bring these heavy and inconvenient Hongyi cannons to fight such a return carbine.

Really came here with the Hongyi cannon, and when the artillery arrived, the Ming army on the opposite side had already run away with oil on the soles of their feet.

It's just that he didn't expect that the Ming soldiers on the opposite side would take out more than twenty Hongyi cannons in one go.

Although these cannons look quite small, they weigh only a few hundred catties, which is different from the two to three thousand catties of Hongyi cannons widely used in Dongyao.

But this is still a genuine Hongyi cannon.

And most importantly, how did these Ming troops drag so many Hongyi cannons around?

It's fine to pull cannons everywhere. The Hongyi cannons they captured in the east also used large double-wheeled gun mounts, and they could be pulled by many mules and horses for marching, but at most they were slower.

However, after the Ming army pulled out the Hongyi cannons, they put them out directly without any additional reinforcement. What the hell is it to directly load and shell them?

Is this still a cannon?

Even the bird gun is not so convenient.

No wonder Azig has doubts about the more than 20 field cannons under Hong Chengchou's command. The history of their Dongcap people using Hongyi cannons is only a few years, although the use of double-wheeled gun mounts has enhanced the mobility of Hongyi cannons.

However, the Hongyi cannons equipped by Dongyao are actually no different from the Hongyi cannons of the Ming army. They are both very typical long-barreled cannons.

And this kind of artillery is originally installed on a battleship or a city, so it is basically suitable for field battles.

Even if Dongyao switched to a two-wheeled gun mount, this kind of gun mount is also very primitive. During combat, there is no way to be the same as the new type of gun mount made by the Chu army. After separating the leading vehicle from the artillery, it can be carried out directly. Load and fire.

In the shock of Azige, the gunners of the Ming army on the opposite side fired one after another, and a group of Dongyao cavalry who rushed forward were killed and injured a few hundred meters away, and were forced to turn ahead of time.

Next, Azig did not give up and wanted to attack. Although Hong Chengchou's troops had field artillery to assist in the battle, to be honest, the gunners of the Ming army were not of good quality, and their accuracy in hitting was very limited. The two-and-a-half catty field artillery is the main type, and its shelling power is limited at long distances, making it difficult to cover the entire battlefield.

The most important thing is that Dongyao has a lot of troops, and there are thousands of cavalry in Dongyao who have returned to the carbine.

The short-distance maneuvering speed of these cavalry is quite astonishing. After one side's attack is blocked, they will quickly change the direction to continue the tentative attack, and have almost absolute tactical initiative.

Once approached, it will quickly use the riding bow to throw the bow and arrow!
At the same time, some elite armored warriors from the East will come forward and push the shield chariot to kill them.

After going forward to a certain distance, he would bend his bow and shoot arrows directly, and the Ming army infantry on the opposite side was miserable.

After half a day of fierce fighting between the two sides, Azig saw that there were more than [-] casualties on his own side, and he also learned that a Ming army came from Shanhaiguan, and it was Guan Ning cavalry who outflanked to the northwest, very close to his own army , hesitated for a moment, and immediately said: "Withdraw!"

The Central Plains Ming army that Hong Chengchou fell was more difficult than expected, especially their little red cannons fought fast and hard.

Most of the more than 200 casualties of the Eastern Captives were killed by these small Hongyi artillery in the Ming army.

Although in the previous fierce battle, Dongbao also killed and wounded at least a few hundred Ming troops, occupying an almost absolute advantage in terms of battle damage ratio, but it may not be easy to completely gnaw down this Ming army, and it is also difficult. Need more time.

Now that the flank of the Chinese army is threatened by the Guanning cavalry, Azig can't afford to waste any more time here. He needs to return quickly and reinforce the Chinese army to prevent the Chinese army from being attacked by the Guanning cavalry.

Just before leaving, Azig looked at the little Hongyi artillery in the formation of the Ming army on the opposite side with a regretful expression.

Both intuition and actual combat told him that this small Hongyi artillery was different from the Hongyi artillery used by the Ming army in the past, and it was also different from the Hongyi artillery used by himself.

But it does not mean that it is more powerful, but that it is more suitable for field use.

The maneuverability, rapid deployment ability, and the burst rate of fire in the early stage are quite impressive.

It's a pity that they hadn't been able to reach the core of their central army after the onslaught before. Otherwise, even if they captured even one of these small red cannons, they could take them back to imitate them.

Then the artillery unit they captured in the east can go up to a higher level.

However, since this Ming army has appeared in Beizhili, there will definitely be a chance to fight against them in the future, and it is enough to find a chance to capture one at that time.

Besides, even if you can't get this kind of small cannon on the battlefield, then you can use other methods, for example, through the few Shanxi merchants who have worked closely with them in the East, you may be able to get a few of these small cannons. No. Hongyi Cannon.

Those Shanxi merchants can even sell them grain, iron materials, copper materials and almost all other strategic materials, and it is not difficult to sell them a few Hongyi cannons.

And there is no need to worry that these Shanxi merchants have no connections, they have a lot of connections.

Thinking of this, Azig felt a little relieved, and immediately led the army to retreat.

The Dongbuo people retreated very decisively and quickly, and it didn't take long for them to disappear from the sight of the Ming army.

At this time, Hong Chengchou and a large number of generals of the Ming army were ordinary soldiers, and they all looked at Dongbao retreating as if they had escaped from death.

After a long time, someone murmured: "Are you leaving now? Are you really leaving?"

"It should be really gone, and now I can't even see their figures."

"However, we can't relax our vigilance. They may be suspicious and want to pretend to retreat, and then wait for us to relax our vigilance and get out of the formation before going back."

"In my opinion, this formation should not be messed up, so be careful!"
And Hong Chengchou also looked scared: "The ruthlessness of the Eastern Captivity really lives up to its reputation!"

Cao Wenzhao beside him also said: "That's right, the posture of this charge is far from that of those thieves, and even those of Chu thieves cannot be compared."

"When they charged into battle, all the ministries were organized and coordinated properly. They advanced and retreated freely without sloppiness. It's hard to deal with!"

"Fortunately, this time we brought the anti-thief cannon, otherwise we would have died in this battle!"

Hong Chengchou nodded slightly: "It seems that we need to build more of these cannons!"

Today he has seen the strength of the Eastern Captives in field battles. If he hadn't lined up in time today and relied on more than 20 anti-thief cannons for a strict defense, he might not have killed or injured more than 1000 people, but the entire army would have been wiped out.

Hong Chengchou and others were terrified, so they didn't have the courage to continue to catch up, but continued to deploy defenses on the spot, and even dug parapets and other fortifications.

then……

On the morning of the third day, Hong Chengchou received an envoy from Guanning Iron Cavalry. As soon as the envoy came, he yelled: "We kindly help you attract the attention of the Dong captives, help you out, and even want to cooperate with you to cut off some of the Dong captives. The baggage rear."

"You guys are good. Not only do you let the main force of the Eastern captives return, but you don't follow them to restrain them, and you don't even send anyone to report a letter. Is there such a fucking war? Idiots also know how to send someone to follow them Let's say it!"
"To the point that we were attacked yesterday by the fine cavalry of the Eastern Captives, and you stood still and watched our army suffer heavy casualties."

"The generals said, this time we admit defeat, but in the future..." The emissary looked at Hong Chengchou without fear: "Even if the king of heaven came to kneel and beg us, he would never think of us sending troops!"

After all, he turned around and left immediately.

Immediately, a military general of the guard stepped forward and scolded: "You are so brave, why are you talking to us adults..."

But the emissary drew his sword directly: "Say one more word, and I will chop you with a knife!"

The waist knife was unsheathed, and the cold light flashed, and the general of the guard couldn't help but take two steps back
The messenger snorted coldly, got on his horse and galloped away.

During the whole process, Hong Chengchou didn't say a word, his face was gloomy!
After a long time, someone muttered: "They didn't send anyone to ask us for help. Could it be that we didn't send troops?"

Another person said: "That's right, and who knows if there is an ambush ahead of Dongyao's elite soldiers? If we attack rashly, once there is Dongyao's ambush ahead, wouldn't we be in an ambush?"

"What we are doing is a complete strategy. They Guan Ning soldiers foolishly ran to attack Dongyao's supply team. Who is to blame for being caught by Dongyao's cavalry."

"That's right, they said they came to help us out of the siege. Although we sent people to rescue them before, we only asked them to rescue them, and didn't let them directly attack the Dongbao people."

"I have no brains, and it's really unreasonable to blame us in turn!"

At this time, Hong Chengchou slapped the table: "Enough!"

Seeing a group of generals shut up, Hong Chengchou continued: "Are you all free? Have nothing to do? Go back to work!"

The fight between Hong Chengchou and Dongyao was a bit anticlimactic. Although Dongyao had some victories, he also saw the power of the Ming army's new field artillery.

And Hong Chengchou realized the power of the new field artillery.

The Hongyi cannon that can be used well in field battles is much more important than the Hongyi cannon that is only used on the city.

On the same day, Hong Chengchou, who was in a good mood, wrote a letter to the court, strongly suggesting that the court pull out the money and food to build a new type of artillery, that is, the thief gun.

It is said that one hundred thief-killing cannons will be built within one year, and one thousand thief-killing cannons will be built within five years. At that time, no matter whether it is a Chu thief or a Dongcap, they can all be destroyed in front of these thousand thief-killing cannons.

It's just that although Hong Chengchou is so successful, he also knows that even if the court realizes the importance of the anti-thief cannon and wants to build more anti-thief cannons, it will definitely not be able to spend enough money and food to build the anti-thief cannon.

Therefore, if he wanted to build more guns for killing thieves, Hong Chengchou thought that he had to search for money and food by himself.

Hong Chengchou's excerpts still caused a huge sensation in the capital.

In the field confrontation with more than 1 people on both sides, the Ming army actually blocked the attack of Dongyao, which directly shocked the jaws of many people. It has been many years, and the Ming army can finally block Dongyao in the field again Instead of being defeated again and again, we can only rely on the strong city for defensive operations.

Even in this field battle, the difference in casualties between the Ming army and the Eastern captives was huge, reaching more than one to seven.

But considering that the Dong captives who came to attack were all elites, and the Ming army under Hong Chengchou's command was considered good on the Central Plains battlefield, but it was actually very ordinary on the Jiliao battlefield.

Therefore, the ratio of one to seven is completely acceptable to many big figures in the Ming court, and it is even profitable.

Our Ming Dynasty has a vast land and abundant resources, as long as we can destroy the Eastern captives, it doesn't matter how many people die.

What's more, Hong Chengchou is not the only one in our Ming court. There are also many frontier troops. If these frontier soldiers are equipped with enough guns to kill thieves, it is not easy to kill Dongyao.

Therefore, this thief-killing cannon is a good thing, and the equipment must be vigorously promoted.

As for the money and food needed, the Ministry of Households naturally didn't have a single penny. In desperation, Chongzhen took the lead in saving court expenses, cobbled together 2 taels of silver, and then the courtiers actively donated money and food to create a new style. Guns, training new army and so on.

Under Chongzhen's vigorous call, the dignitaries of the Ming court generously donated their money, saying that they have nothing and can't live without cannons, and no one can suffer from the frontier soldiers.

Immediately, there were hundreds of taels more, and tens of taels or even a few taels less. A total of more than 4000 taels of silver was raised.

A group of eunuchs couldn't bear to see it, so they got together and made up 4000 taels of more than 1 taels.

Then add the 2 taels of silver in Chongzhen's personal pocket, a total of 3 taels of silver.

According to the court agreement, part of the 3 taels of silver was distributed to the Ministry of Industry for building anti-thief cannons, and part of it was distributed to the frontier troops of various ministries.

But this is only on the surface. In fact, most of them did not leave Gyeonggi at all, and most of them were lost without going to the workshops under the Ministry of Industry.

Even if it's donated money, it can't ruin Guochao's 200-year-old drift and no rules!

After all, nothing is perfect without rules, and rules are very important!
Even Chongzhen's private house money had to be floated away, and considering that a lot of this money was donated by ministers, so a few percent had to be added to the floated amount.

You can't let the grown-ups really donate money to those lowly warriors for war... How decent is that.

As a result, many officials just donated dozens of taels of silver, and then got back hundreds of taels of silver. This time, instead of losing money, they made a lot of money.

As for the thief gun...

Just go back and make a few appearances to fool His Majesty.

In this way, this matter has been handled properly, everyone has benefited, and His Majesty has also gained face, hello, hello, hello everyone!

As for the frontier soldiers... none of these grown-ups' business!
(End of this chapter)