Lu Ming

Chapter 478 Change the topic
The emperor's previous awards to Uncle Zhongyong seemed generous, but the series of dazzling titles were all false.Before the tea party in the Royal Garden, Cao Zongbing's official position was still the deputy commander-in-chief of Zhangchao and other divisions.

The emergence of this situation is not because of the emperor's suppression, but because the emperor needs detailed communication and overall consideration before he can decide on the next step of Cao Zongbing's specific work.

Today's tea party was specially used by the emperor to solve this matter. However, the moment the emperor said that sentence, the interests of the two parties began to differ.

For Chongzhen, transferring Cao Zongbing from the south to the Liaodong theater to preside over the anti-captive work was the operation that was in the best interest of the emperor.

Since the old slave uprising, Daming has never had a good general like Uncle Zhongyong.The current Zhongyong Bo is to the emperor, just like Qi Jiguang was to Jiajing back then.If Chongzhen didn't use this person to destroy the captives, who should he use?Ogre?

This is the fundamental reason why Chongzhen defended Cao Zongbing to death in the court before.

To be honest, as long as Cao Zongbing doesn't raise the flag of rebellion right now, let alone plowing the land with iron oxen, even if he massacres the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, even if he goes to Yizhou to collect refugees wantonly, even if he goes to the harem and touches the widow's thigh, Chongzhen will also endure it abruptly - as long as Aiqing, you help me destroy the Tartars first, and I can bear it with a little green on my head!
Of course, as for Zhang Juzheng's fate after the destruction of the Tartars?Someone almost opened the coffin and flogged the corpse.

Chongzhen is now clearly aware of the priorities: any internal conflicts are not as serious as the Tartars who can pull him off the dragon seat and chop off his head at any time.

So he had to fool Cao Zongbing to go to Liaodong to destroy the captives.

But it's not that simple.

Before his debut, Qi Jiguang was the commander of the hereditary Dengzhou Guard. He is a family of civil servants, and he is a proper person in the system.

Because of this, Emperor Jiajing could arrange Qi Jiguang at will.He sent this person to the coast when fighting against the Japanese, and sent him to Santunying as the general officer of Jizhen when he was fighting against the Tatars. When Zhang Juzheng died and Qi Jiguang's background fell, the emperor easily kicked this person to Guangzhou.

During this process, Qi Jiguang, as a brick in the system, has no self-resistance ability, and can only obey orders.

However, Cao Zongbing is different.

Cao Zongbing is a pirate recruited from An. He has brothers under him, and Yizhou hangs behind his buttocks. Some people have money and food, and they are financially self-sufficient.

Although this warlord showed a satisfactory attitude of integrating into the system, it is impossible for the emperor to shout at Cao Zongbing like Qi Jiguang—what is a warlord?Warlords are the kind of people who can raise the flag of rebellion at any time if they cannot agree.

So the emperor can only discuss this matter with Cao Zongbing in a negotiating tone today.

As a result, the emperor was ruthlessly rejected.

Things have developed to this point, the interests of the time traveler and the emperor are different.

For the cross-travelers, what needs to be done in the north right now is to open a sub-base, absorb refugees, set up a commodity sales/leading party network, hoard supplies, train troops, and so on. A series of preparatory work.

As for the destruction of the Tartars, sorry, now is not the time.

The situation that is most in line with the interests at the moment is naturally that the Houjin Group and the Guanning Group will contain each other in the wilderness of Liaodong.On the side of the crossing crowd, it is only necessary to ensure that the Tatars do not rush into the hinterland of Ming Dynasty to plunder like in history.

In this way, the people in North China can be preserved, the social order can be barely maintained, the annual flow of refugees will not have too high a peak, and the refugee transport system across the public can keep up with the development.

The situation above is what the time travelers want most.

After persisting in this way for a few more years, the day will come when Uncle Zhongyong, whom Emperor Chongzhen misses so much, will lead his army to sweep the Tartars. Sorry, at that time, after someone wiped out the Tartars, it is very likely that they will also wipe out the Guanning Army. Then go south to attack the capital. Your Majesty, I am really sorry that I failed your expectations. In fact, I am an actor.
Therefore, from the moment of the tea party, the interests of the emperor and Cao Zongbing are not consistent.

Chongzhen was a little dumbfounded when he heard that Cao Zongbing attributed the reason for returning to the south to the lack of ammunition.

You must know that Chongzhen had made a lot of preparations before today's meeting.But Cao Zongbing's answer was not within the emperor's pre-planned play-to-play routine.So the emperor could only ask the two cabinet ministers a little surprised: "Is there such a thing?"

The two cabinet ministers were also a little confused at this time.Of course, Zhou Yanru was really stupid, while Actor Wen, who had a relationship with Cao Zongbing beforehand, was fake.

"Hehe, don't be in a hurry, your majesty, Rong Chen said slowly."

Cao Zongbing began to tell the emperor about the battle in detail.

Since the information obtained by the emperor in the memorial was very general, only the words "brave and good at fighting" and "sharp equipment", no one told the emperor the details of the battle and the super power of a certain rifle, so after Cao Zongbing finished popularizing science, Chongzhen only Suddenly realized: "So, this 'two-eight-step gun' should be the first one?"

"Of course!" Cao Zongbing said with a smile: "Your Majesty, this blunderbuss can penetrate the heavy armor of Tartars at a distance of [-] paces. This time, I don't even have a tiger crouching cannon. How can I return with such a victory? It all depends on this gun!"

"I want to test the guns!" Chongzhen's face was excited at this time - if this is the case, then he can "import" a batch of guns and equipment for his troops that he can rest assured of, why bother to fool someone surnamed Cao to pacify the captives?
"Minister obeys the decree!" Cao Zongbing hurriedly received the decree at this time, and then he asked for pen and ink on the spot, handwritten a note, and handed it to the eunuch to run to Zhongyongbo's mansion to bring someone.At the same time, Chongzhen ordered people to go to the Yumajian and told them to bring some firearms for the Beijing camp.

Emperor Chongzhen at the end of Ming Dynasty was no longer the canaries kept in the deep palace.Even the emperor, who was no longer ignorant, understood the importance of military equipment after experiencing this change of himself.

You must know that Chongzhen was sitting on the top of the city at the beginning, and he experienced rounds of firing of red cannons and battles under the city, so he was no stranger to the firearms of the Ming army.In addition, nonsense such as "one cannon can corrupt dozens of miles" can no longer fool the emperor.This man is well aware of the power of Ming army standard firearms.

Not long after, people came.

The man from Uncle Zhongyong's mansion was a palace guard in Ming costume and a gun.On the other side of the Yumajian, several eunuchs and soldiers came, as well as some weapons and armor.

Uncle Zhongyong is very familiar with this kind of scene now, so when he stood up and gesticulated, the shooting range was completed.

Starting from the front of the pavilion, across the fish pond, every 50 meters or so, there will be a table on which are fixed the Zhajia and Shanwenjia made by the Ming army.

Then the shooting demonstration began.

The ending is self-evident.

The few horse guard soldiers standing in the limelight, the bird guns, three-eyed guns and other weapons in their hands are not only slow to reload, but also the bullets fired from them can only "touch" the iron armor at a distance of 100 meters at most.Not to mention the inability to penetrate the target, the hit rate is also terribly low-this kind of rough musket can only be called a hit rate if it is fired in a row.

Next is the performance of Zhongyong Bo Qinwei.

I saw that this person was not in a hurry, and began to hit the target at a distance of 1 meters with a steady rate of fire of 4 shots per minute.Following the exciting gunshots, after twenty shots in a row, the soldiers didn't stop until the gun fog blocked their sight.

Two eunuchs ran over panting holding the target, knelt down in front of Chongzhen, and raised their armor: "My lord, I've counted the target, eighteen hits!"

Seeing the densely packed holes on this fine armor, through which the light from behind shines through, the young emperor stood up, stretched out slightly trembling fingers, and kept rubbing the burrs on the edge of the holes.

After a long time, Chongzhen sighed: "I don't think there is such a magic weapon in the world. It seems that it is the blessing of the ancestors. The sky is endless, I am so bright!"

Zhang Dongdong curled his lips secretly when he heard the words: This credit goes to the ancestors again?Can ancestors really bless you old?

Seeing that the emperor's attention was finally shifted to the musket, Cao Zongbing was also slightly relieved besides complaining: Without a reasonable explanation, it would be difficult for him to let Chongzhen let go of his return to Yizhou, which would affect the relationship between the monarch and his ministers. honeymoon relationship.

Next, Cao Zongbing did not hide his secrets. He not only disassembled and explained the structure of the rifle to everyone present, but also disassembled the paper shell in front of the emperor, and took out the key thing inside: the flash cap.

According to Cao Zongbing, this inconspicuous little piece of copper called a fire hat was the reason why he wanted to return to Yizhou.

Because fire hats are made by secret methods, Yizhou cannot produce them by itself, and can only buy them from sea merchants in Haidong Alaska.

Not only are flash hiders expensive, but they are also scarce.Because the country of Alaska is far away, the number of fire hats reaching Ming Dynasty is even less.The reason why he was able to exchange for 4000 heads when he came to the King of the North this time is that Cao Zongbing has actually used up his stock of flash caps for several years.

So Zongbing Cao had to go back this trip - he had to personally lead the fleet to a trading city in the Indian Ocean to buy flash caps.

After hearing Cao Zongbing's statement, the emperor was noncommittal.On the other hand, Zhou Shoufu asked several questions in succession: Is the gun useless without the cap?Can Daming imitate it?Also, how much is the flash cap and gun?
Cao Zongbing first quoted the price: the purchase price of the fire cap in the Indian Ocean is two taels of silver per piece, and it is three taels of silver when transported to Yizhou, and at least four taels of silver per piece when transported to the capital.

Here is a friendly reminder from Uncle Zhongyong: If you want to train a qualified gunner, you can't train without a thousand shots.

As for guns, since craftsmen in Yizhou can produce them themselves, they are cheaper: 200 taels of silver each.

Finally, regarding the imitation, Cao Zongbing generously promised that he could leave 10 guns and 100 caps for the emperor to use for imitation.It would be even better if Ouchi's skilled craftsmen could imitate it, and he would not have to take risks in the Indian Ocean in the future.

Chongzhen nodded slowly when he heard this.

After Zhou Shoufu saw the emperor nodding, he lowered his face and said angrily: "Da Ming's bird gun is only 10 taels of silver, and the medicine is even cheaper. He has never heard of such expensive firecracker and medicine. Is it you?" Deliberately raising the price to blacken your heart?"

General Cao shook his head and smiled wryly when he heard the words: "Da Ming's blunderbusses are cheap, but the officers and soldiers of Ming Dynasty are also chased away by tartars like dogs. My old Cao's blunderbusses are expensive, and the ones we use are Alaskan barrels, so we can Kill 4000 Tartars."

Cao Zongbing finally asked: "Cheap goods are not good, and good goods are not cheap. Master Zhou, don't you even understand this simple truth?"

Zhou Yanru: "."

(End of this chapter)