I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 197
Chapter 196

Except for Hou Xun, few people who were able to come to participate in the equipment exhibition were laymen. They could easily find that the equipment displayed by Cheng Shijie was completely different from that of the imperial staff bureau.

For example, this knife is not a Ming-style waist knife, nor a Yanling knife, nor a Miao knife, nor a Qi family knife, but a Tang straight knife that has been lost for a long time.It can also be said to be Tang Hengdao.

It can be said that Tang Hengdao is the king of swords and the pinnacle of swords. It is well-made, a perfect combination of hardness and toughness, and a masterpiece of a generation of weapons.

However, such a good weapon disappeared after the Song Dynasty?

The answer is multifaceted and very complicated. First of all, the Tang Dynasty was a dynasty that advocated offense. The Tang army was the most powerful army in the world at that time, and it was mainly cavalry. It was only official horses raised by the imperial court. There are as many as 70 horses in the Hehuang area, and there are still a large number of war horses among the people. In this case, Datang's army is almost a pure cavalry force.

Although there are also arms such as Mo Dao, Jumping Soldiers, Sword and Shield Soldiers, and Crossbow Soldiers, the problem is that most of these arms arrive on the battlefield on horses, dismount and fight on foot. Soldiers in the Tang Dynasty are not weak in individual combat. .In addition to the reasons for martial arts, the strict training of soldiers is also one of the reasons.Tang Dao Dao's body is long and narrow, and only well-trained fighters can well display its light and tricky power.Just like today's Chinese swords, if the user does not have a certain foundation in martial arts, they will not be able to use them at all.

In addition, military equipment is not given enough attention. This is due to cost considerations. If one Tang Hengdao can be produced, ten Song swords can be made. Even if the craftsmanship is quite different, the huge quantity advantage also makes up for the shortage.So after the Song Dynasty, Tang knives gradually disappeared, and even the craftsmanship was lost.

Although Cheng Shijie restored the Hengdao, he actually used the blessing of the current metallurgical technology, not the original Tang Hengdao.

Speaking of this gun again, the guns equipped by Ning Haijun should be regarded as lances rather than spears in terms of the classification of simple guns, spears, and lances. The biggest difference between lances and long spears is the length. A lance is far longer than a gun and is heavier. , The length of the sharp edge of the lance is much longer than the length of the gun blade.

A gun is composed of a gun blade, a gun shaft, a gun shaft and a gun handle, and each part has its own use. The most prominent feature of the gun is that the gun blade is short and sharp.

The lance can be used not only for cavalry to charge with a lance, but also for sweeping with a lance.Its main techniques include chopping, covering, cutting, blocking, teasing, rushing, belting, picking and so on.

Whether it is the so-called gun of Ning Haijun, the actual lance, or the so-called knife, the actual Tang Hengdao, all have a common feature, that is, in order to exert the power of these weapons and equipment, they must have strong physical fitness.

Although Cheng Shijie also knows that the arms trade can make money, the problem is that this time the arms trade is mainly to train the other party, and Cheng Shijie will naturally not trade out the real housekeeper.

Zuo Liangyu asked Cheng Shijie for a spear. As a typical Shandong man over 1.8 meters tall, when he grabbed the spear, he felt that the spear was a little heavy, but in fact it was very heavy.The spears of the Tang Dynasty weighed about eight catties, and generally no more than ten catties, while the spears of the Ming Dynasty only weighed three catties, and the spear heads of the spears only weighed two taels.

But Ning Haijun's spear weighed more than [-] catties. Even Zuo Liangyu felt a little hard. He played a set of marksmanship, and then told Hou Xun: "Master Hou, this spear is very wicked and not sharp, but It is extremely sharp, even the skull can be pierced! Once stabbed by it, the wound is not big, but it cannot heal, and the blood will keep gushing, even if it is stabbed on the arm or thigh, the blood will still be in the mouth. The time is drained, and there is no cure!"

Hou Xun's eyelids twitched slightly: "Is it really so powerful?"

"Exactly!"

Zuo Liangyu said: "The general tried it on the heavy shield. The three-inch thick iron-clad heavy shield can be pierced with one shot. If it hits a human body, even hard bones can be easily pierced!"

While talking, Lu Xiangsheng touched a Mo knife.

The Mo knife is partially similar to Lu Xiangsheng's own exclusive weapon, the Pu knife, which is probably the difference between a spear and a spear.

Lu Xiangsheng's hand exerted a little force, and a cold light came out of its sheath, which hurt everyone's eyes and shocked their hearts!
When the whole knife was pulled out, they were all dumbfounded, staring straight at the Mo knife in Lu Xiangsheng's hand without blinking.

This knife is three feet three inches long, about three fingers wide, with an inconspicuous but extremely graceful arc. The back of the knife is thick and blunt, like a heavy steel plate, but the blade is thinner than paper. The blade is dark, even under the scorching sun. It doesn't reflect light at the bottom, but the blade is like snow, and a pool of cold light flows slowly, glowing with icy cold light.

When Lu Xiangsheng held the one-foot-long knife handle with both hands, and raised the edge of the knife, a cold blood-biting breath gushed out, making people shudder: "Good knife! Good knife!"

Since it is a good knife, it is natural to try it.

Lu Xiangsheng aimed a knife at a wooden stake with a thick bowl mouth, a cold light flashed, and a piece of wood flew out along the blade.

The crowd was stunned.

This is a hard stake, not sugar cane!
Even if a strong soldier chops it with an axe, it will take a long time to chop it off, right?This guy actually gave it a clean break!With such terrifying arm strength and this incomparably sharp sword, what kind of armor can stop him!

Lu Xiangsheng was overjoyed immediately, holding the Mo Dao with both hands, and began to dance. As the light of the sword flickered, the wind of the sword roared, and everyone praised: "Master Lu is indeed capable of both civil and military skills!"

Zuo Liangyu said: "I admire you!"

Hong Chengchou narrowed his eyes, looked at Cheng Shijie and said, "Even if it's the Mo Dao of the Tang Dynasty, it's nothing more than that?"

"Master Hong is right!"

Cheng Shijie said with a smile: "This kind of knife is made by imitating the Mo knife!"

Lu Xiangsheng laughed loudly while waving the Mo Dao: "Okay, Mo Dao is the king of swords. It inherits the heroism of the Han and Tang Dynasties and created unparalleled brilliance." Under it, people and horses are all broken! "Sixteen short words fully embody the terrifying lethality of the Mo Dao. The heavy infantry of the Tang Dynasty holding the Mo Dao has become a nightmare for the northern cavalry. The empire at that time, the fierce and fierce cavalry, all wailed in despair under the cold light of Mo Dao. Its ferocity, bloodthirsty, and boldness made countless people admire and fear it! It's a pity..."

"Unfortunately, the Mo Dao has been lost since the Song Dynasty and was replaced by a simple and cheap big axe. This is a great pity. I didn't expect him to see it reappear in the world!"

Hou Xun stared straight: "Whose grave did you dig to steal this Mo knife?"

At this time, Lu Xiangsheng slashed at a vertical shield with a knife, and a thick shield was forcibly split in two.

Cheng Shijie said with a smile: "Master Lu is really born with supernatural power!"

"Master Cheng, how did you use this knife?"

"Sorry for business secrets!"

Cheng Shijie did not tell Lu Xiangsheng the truth. Cheng Shijie's Mo Dao is not a Mo Dao in the true sense. Instead, he directly pours molten steel into a mold, takes it out after cooling, heat-treats it, and then polishes it, which is very trouble-free.

Cheng Shijie said: "Steel is very particular. It must be good steel that is resistant to impact and wear. Ordinary steel will not work."

"Sure enough, what a pity!"

Lu Xiangsheng stretched out his hand to caress the blade of Mo Dao. He couldn't put it down, but he heard that it can only be made of high-quality steel. The knife, unfortunately, is too expensive, alas..."

"expensive?"

Cheng Shijie immediately realized that for Lu Xiangsheng, it was too difficult to raise military expenses. In history, the total strength of the Tianxiong Army has never exceeded 2 horses. It is not because Lu Xiangsheng is unwilling to expand the army, but because he has no money. huge problem.

Ning Haijun's long spear, Tang Hengdao and Modao are all very good, but they are a bit more expensive. Even if he wants to equip a lot of equipment, he is powerless.

Cheng Shijie thought of this, and said with a faint smile: "Lord Lu, actually, if you want, I can sell you."

Lu Xiangsheng was overjoyed: "Really? I don't know how much it will cost?"

The question that Lu Xiangsheng wanted to ask was also a question that everyone cared about.

Cheng Shijie pointed to the long spear and the horizontal knife and said, "This kind of long spear is 15 taels of silver, without bargaining!"

The casting method of Tanghengdao and Modao is the same. They are first smelted into molten steel in a blast furnace, purified in an open hearth furnace, smelted into high-carbon steel, and then passed through a cooling tank, poured into a mold, cast into shape, and passed through a heat treatment process. Grind and shape.

For example, the actual cost of a horizontal knife is less than three taels of silver, while a spear is a little more expensive than four taels of silver. Cheng Shijie earned more than a dozen taels of silver with tears in his eyes.

Lu Xiangsheng had forged knives and guns himself, and knew that it would cost eight or nine taels of silver to make an ordinary waist saber, so he asked a little puzzled, "Aren't you at a loss?"

"Not bad!"

Cheng Shijie said with a smile: "These horizontal knives, long spears, and mo knives are mostly made of Jiannu's waste weapons, and all of them are made of old iron materials. The cost is the craftsman's wages, so it's not a loss!"

When Cheng Shijie said this, everyone realized that Ning Haijun had a great victory in Haizhou before, and then a great victory in Baliwan, and countless soldiers were captured.

Zuo Liangyu took Hou Xun's hand and said nervously: "Yes, yes, yes..."

Lu Xiangsheng thought for a while and said, "Heng Dao, I want six thousand handles, and six thousand spears!"

Lu Xiangsheng could really afford 18 taels of silver. Part of the money was rewarded by Emperor Chongzhen, and part of it was seized from Gao Yingxiang.

Lu Xiangsheng asked again: "How do you sell Mo Dao?"

"This one is more expensive!"

"How heavy, tell me, let Lu give up!"

"This Mo knife is made of three horizontal knives, so at least 50 taels of silver are needed!"

50 taels of silver is not too dark. In fact, the actual cost of this kind of Mo Dao is only 40 taels of silver, and a tearful handle earns [-] taels of silver.

"Lu wants six hundred handles!"

Cheng Shijie has now officially entered the role, selling weapons to everyone.

In fact, everyone has been led astray by Cheng Shijie. None of them care about firearms, but these powerful cold weapons.

Zuo Liangyu asked for 35 sets of armor worth [-] taels of silver, as well as [-] long spears and [-] horizontal knives.

There are 15 crossbow machines worth [-] taels of silver, and [-] arrows.

Hong Chengchou was also rich and powerful, and ordered [-] long guns from Cheng Shijie, and [-] spare gun heads.Six thousand horizontal knives and three thousand sets of armor.

Even Zhu Dadian, the governor of water transport, did not have the pressure of fighting, but in order to equip his governor Fubiao pro-army, he still bought a thousand horizontal knives, a thousand long spears, six hundred crossbows, two A thousand suits of armor.

Cheng Shijie finally realized what it means to be rich without windfall.

During this three-day weapons and equipment exhibition, Cheng Shijie sold a total of more than 280 million taels of equipment, but actually received a deposit of 18 taels of silver.

That night, Wen Tiren received the news. In fact, he was not worried about Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng, but Xu Guangqi. Now Xu Guangqi has Cheng Shijie in charge of the army outside, and a power structure has been formed in which he is handsome inside and handsome outside, and supports each other. The political purpose of staying in the phase for a long time and standing tall.

Such a power structure is very unfavorable to Wen Tiren, but Hou Xun actually wanted to follow Xu Guangqi's example. He vigorously supported Zuo Liangyu and invested 35 taels of silver for Zuo Liangyu at one time, which made Wen Tiren really nervous for a while.

For Xu Guangqi, Wen Tiren is not too worried. Although he has formed a power structure that should be supported by mutual support, Xu Guangqi has more than enough resourcefulness but not enough opportunity to change. What's more, the Western French Party has only two or three kittens, which is difficult to form a climate.

But Hou Xun is different. This is a member of the Donglin Party, with great influence. Once the Donglin Party makes a comeback, Wen Tiren is not the only one who will step down. Wen Tiren knows the Donglin Party very well. Once the Donglin Party gains power, they will be mad dogs. , Catch whoever bites whoever.

Wei Zhongxian, Eunuch Wei, who has power over the government, or Sun Chengzong, who is famous all over the world, or the emperor, as long as they are not members of the Donglin Party, they will bite.

But how to deal with Hou Xun?

Wen Tiren immediately had an idea.

You must know that the present Hou Xun is Hou Bancheng. Of course, he is not in Bancheng of the capital, but his hometown, Guide Mansion. In the north, the area of ​​Hou's Mansion is actually three times larger than that of Guide's Mansion.

The area of ​​the government office in Guide Mansion is about 100 mu, equivalent to one sixtieth of Guide Mansion.Hou Bancheng's home occupies more than 32 mu, and his son Hou Fangyu built a Zhuangmei hall in the south of the city. There are three rockeries, [-] courtyards, sixteen resting places, and one high platform. Qishu (the current Plum Garden, which is a restored antique building, covers an area of ​​[-] acres)

If we say that in the past, it was not easy to deal with Hou Xun, but now Emperor Chongzhen has tasted the sweetness of copying his home. With more than [-] mu of land, what would Emperor Chongzhen do?
Wen Tiren did not impeach Hou Xun directly, but adopted a method, that is, to use the famous and flamboyant character traits of the four sons of Fushe, first let a Jiangnan official You Ziying who was acquainted with Chen Zhenhui, one of the four sons, go to Chen Zhenhui's hometown is in the name of visiting Chen Zhenhui.

Chen Zhenhui's hometown is in Yixing, and they built a mansion called Chen Yuan.This Chen Garden is a courtyard in the middle of the mountain, built next to the mountain, with mountains and water, covering an area of ​​several hundred acres.

After You Ziying went to Chen Yuan, she wrote an article called "Chen Yuan Fu". You Ziying submitted this article to Wen Tiren's family. He greatly appreciated it, claiming that You Ziying's article could be the first in Jiangnan parallel prose, and if he took the imperial examination, he would definitely be the first in high school.

Of course, this is Wen Tiren using his identity and influence to create momentum for You Ziying. As the saying goes, Wen Wu is the first, and Wu is the second. Fans and little fans don't know how many people there are, and along with Chen Zhenhui's Chen Yuan, it has also become an Internet celebrity place in Jiangnan.

As a result, Chen Yuan must be mentioned in the south of the Yangtze River, and Chen Yuan must be written in the talk, which makes Hou Fangyu, one of the four sons of Fushe, feel very uncomfortable. Although Chen Yuan covers an area of ​​five or six hundred acres, Chen Zhenhui did not live in it. It is dilapidated inside and is no longer what it used to be luxury.

In order to become famous, Hou Fangyu invited Gu Hengbo, one of the eight beauties of the Qinhuai River. At this time, Gu Hengbo was not married to Gong Dingzi, but he was the most famous in the south of the Yangtze River, known as the number one in Nanqu.

In addition to Gu Hengbo, Hou Fangyu also invited a large number of scholars from the south of the Yangtze River, as well as celebrities from the Guide Mansion, and gathered hundreds of scholars, known as Qianshi Youmeiyuan.

This time Hou Fangyu succeeded. After seeing the luxury of Meiyuan, everyone praised Meiyuan greatly. The name of Meiyuan resounded all over the country for a while, and even Cheng Shijie, who usually didn't ask about such nonsense, heard about it. .

During dinner at night, Zhu Weiti asked: "My husband, have you heard of Guide Mansion?"

Cheng Shijie said with a faint smile: "Of course I have heard that Guide Mansion is located in the northeast of Henan, bordering Shandong and Beizhili, and belongs to the junction of the three provinces. "The reputation of "a place where military strategists must contend and where merchants gather" is just like during the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion in the Han Dynasty, Liang Wang Liu Wu was in Liang County, which is now Guide Mansion, and he used the weak soldiers of Liang State to fight against the Seven Kingdoms. More than [-] soldiers fought for nearly a year, and it was only then that Emperor Han Jing won the war!"

Zhu Weiti smiled naively, now she found that Cheng Shijie and her concerns were not on the same line.

Cheng Shijie continued: "Secondly, there is the Battle of Suiyang. Suiyang is also the old name of Guide City. In the Tang Dynasty, this place was called Suiyang! The Battle of Suiyang was a famous battle during the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty. In the first year of Tang Suzong Li Hengzhide (756 A.D.), Zhang Xun, then deputy envoy of Henan Jiedu, led [-] Tang troops to defend the isolated city of Suiyang, resisting more than [-] rebels, and held on for more than ten months... ..."

Only then did Cheng Shijie realize that Zhu Weiti was absent-minded, and he smiled and said, "The princess is not interested in this?"

"No, I just want to know about the Plum Garden in Guide Mansion!"

Zhu Weiti told Cheng Shijie about the Hou's Plum Garden in Guide Mansion, which had recently become famous, and Cheng Shijie immediately realized that it was a mess.

It's like some second-generation officials or rich second-generations in later generations showing off their wealth. As long as they show off their wealth online, there will definitely be problems. Now that Meiyuan is so famous, isn't it rushing to give knives to the enemy?

It's not that Hou Fangyu is stupid, he is a fan of the authorities, just like the second generation who show off their wealth in later generations, they are not stupid, they are fans of the authorities, when there is nothing wrong, they can say anything, but once something happens, no one can keep it. It is the power of public opinion.

Cheng Shijie smiled faintly: "Hou Xun is going to be in trouble!"

Zhu Weiti sighed, she and Cheng Shijie were not on the same channel.

When Cheng Shijie knew about this, Hou Xun actually knew about it too, and Hou Xun also realized that something was wrong, so he hurriedly sent people back to Guide Mansion and asked Hou Fangyu to study behind closed doors.

It's just that it's too late.

Now Emperor Chongzhen is crazy about money, although Cheng Shijie sells equipment very well, but the problem is that Emperor Chongzhen also wants to buy it. It is best to replace the 20 troops in the Beijing camp.

The problem is, it costs money.

Cheng Shijie's equipment didn't come from the wind, even if he wanted it, Cheng Shijie couldn't conjure it up for him. At this moment, it was reported that Hou Fangyu was showing off his wealth in Meiyuan.

"High companion!"

"The servant is here!"

"Have you heard of the Plum Garden in Guide Mansion?"

"Your servant has heard that this is the number one mansion in Guide Mansion, and it was built with millions of taels of silver!"

"Millions of taels?"

Emperor Chongzhen's eyes straightened instantly.

He didn't dare to directly force Cheng Shijie to hand over his equipment. This was because Ning Haijun was the strongest army in Ming Dynasty, just like the Guan Ning Army back then.

However, Hou Xun is different, he is a civil servant.

Although the civilization of the Ming Dynasty is noble and the military is cheap, in the eyes of Emperor Chongzhen, civil servants have no resistance and can be killed, but military generals cannot...

This is the logic of Emperor Chongzhen. Chongzhen killed [-] officials in total, including seven governors and eleven governors. These were civil servants...

At the end of February in the sixth year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen ordered Hai Guogong to leave for southern Liaoning, but the imperial decree ordered Cheng Shijie to return to southern Liaoning from Dengzhou. This strange imperial decree made Cheng Shijie want to laugh.

This is simply 300 taels of silver here.

He made it clear that he wanted to deal with Hou Xun. Although Dengzhou was not close to Guide Mansion, the problem was that the army could go upstream and directly reach Guide Mansion via the Yellow River.

In the sixth year of Chongzhen, on the sixth day of March, Cheng Shijie officially set off for southern Liaoning. Of course, Princess Le'an Zhu Weiti also followed.

Emperor Chongzhen went out of the city for twenty miles to see him off, which can be regarded as giving Cheng Shijie enough face.

When he was approaching, Emperor Chongzhen said: "Cheng Qing, if there is a disobedience, what will you do?"

Cheng Shijie solemnly said: "As long as your majesty points out, I will use the three-foot green sharp edge to make peace for your majesty!"

On the day Cheng Shijie arrived in Dengzhou, that is, March [-]th, the sixth year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen was impeached by Song Zhipu, and Hou Xun was dismissed from his post and imprisoned in the name of wasting money and harming the country.

PS: I got off work too late yesterday. After twelve o’clock, I ended up writing after two o’clock and fell asleep. This chapter is yesterday’s, and there is more in the evening.

(End of this chapter)