Before hanging himself, Chongzhen lifted the table

Chapter 152
Starting from the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, they had purchased firearms from the Franco people in Haojing'ao (Macau) and copied them.Even during the Chongzhen period, this was still the case.At the beginning, Sun Yuanhua was organizing and training the new firearms army, and hired many Francois as instructors to teach the Ming Dynasty soldiers how to make firearms and master the use of firearms.

Therefore, as far as this era is concerned, the manufacturing of firearms is still similar in the East and the West.But there is also one thing. The most advanced technology in the West did not reach the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Chongzhen inspected the Gunpowder Bureau and found that everything in his eyes was crude.

Not to mention that it is all manual operation, the weighing and proportioning of various raw materials are all careless.After inquiry, people of this era believed that gunpowder would get damp if it could not be stored for a long time. Therefore, the gunpowder had to be re-added with salt before the war. Experienced craftsmen thought that it was almost enough.

Moreover, the gunpowder of this era was still in the form of powder. If transported over long distances, the gunpowder raw materials would separate into layers and would need to be mixed again.

Although Emperor Chongzhen didn't know much about the specific operation of gunpowder, he still knew some concepts.

For example, the raw materials of gunpowder must be purified as much as possible. Generally speaking, the method is evaporation and recrystallization. Therefore, he stipulated to the Gunpowder Bureau that whoever invents a better method of purifying the raw materials of gunpowder will be rewarded heavily. .

In addition, gunpowder granulation is something that is discussed in later time travel history books. He also explained to the gunpowder craftsmen that water, wine, or urine can be added when mixing the powder, and then crushed into lumps to screen out different particles. , then tumbling and frying, and finally drying in the shade into granular gunpowder, which can minimize the moisture of the gunpowder and is more powerful.

There is a joke here, so Emperor Chongzhen remembered that urine was generally used as liquid to mix in Europe.

As for the ratio of gunpowder ingredients, this is even easier. Just let the gunpowder craftsman do the experiments. Under rigorous experiments, the best ratio can always be found.And they can also demand greater accuracy from the scales they use.

Nowadays, these craftsmen have salaries and they are paid on time, which makes them cherish their rice bowl very much.Naturally, I will keep the emperor's words in mind.

Emperor Chongzhen knew that the improvement of gunpowder would not be immediate and the craftsmen had to be given time.Anyway, we won't have a decisive battle with Jianlu right now, because we can't beat him, so we'll just spend it first, there's no rush.When you turn around and accumulate strength, you can deal with them.

However, although this abacus was a good one, Emperor Chongzhen was soon shocked.

He did not collect fast horses at night and reported back, saying that Li Zicheng's army had returned north and was stationed in Dong'an, Yongqing and Jinghai areas, adjacent to the Jianlu army, and it was obvious that they had formed an alliance.

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he immediately wanted to scold his mother. These two guys actually colluded together!
Originally, I couldn't defeat the main force of Jianlu, but I still had some confidence. After accumulating strength, I could still fight. Unexpectedly, Li Zicheng came with another army. This was simply a hell-level difficulty!

So, he immediately held a military meeting in Wuying Palace.

There were civilian officials on one side and military generals on the other. A screen was pushed in front of them, with the latest situation map of the enemy and ourselves hanging on it.

Emperor Chongzhen did not sit on the throne, but walked to the map, personally explained the situation to these civil and military officials, and then asked: "How do you think we should respond?"

When Fan Jingwen heard this, he immediately said: "Your Majesty, Baoding is in danger!"

Yongqing and Jinghai are both very close to Baoding. Now that the Jianlu and Li bandits have gathered together, they may attack Baoding.

Other cabinet ministers, such as Jiang Dejing, Fang Yuegong and others, had even more expressions on their faces, because they were not worried about Baoding, but more worried about the capital!
Among them, Jiang Dejing hurriedly followed up and said: "Your Majesty, the armies of Jianlu and Li have made it difficult for the imperial court to fight alone. Now they are united together. Not to mention the capital, surrounding cities such as Tongzhou and Baoding will definitely not be protected. Please give your Majesty an order. Anyone who can be diligent will come to be diligent!"

Although they know that there is actually no army left to hope for, they still say these words, which shows that they really feel that the strength of the capital alone will never be able to stop the coalition forces of Jianlu and Li Thief!
The other civil servants all looked pale.

I really didn't expect that when Jianlu invaded with a large army, Your Majesty finally became wise and powerful, so he should be able to protect himself.Unexpectedly, the army of Li thieves actually joined forces with the army of Jianlu. How could they fight?No matter how powerful your Majesty is, he will definitely not be able to defeat the coalition composed of these two powerful armies!
However, although the generals were a little surprised after hearing the news, not many people were afraid.

He Zan came out first, clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, you can order all the cities to hold on and frustrate the rebels, and then try again!"

Regardless of whether it is the Jianlu army in Liaodong or the army of Li thieves, to the court, they are both rebel forces, so the rebels he refers to refer to the two armies of Jianlu and Li thieves.

After Ning Long heard the evil, he also went out to report: "The last general agrees, the Jianlu and Li thieves have just joined forces, and their momentum will definitely increase. It is not appropriate to go to war at this time. They must use up their energy to defend the city before fighting!"

They all followed the emperor in battles and were knighted for their military exploits. They already had a strong reputation in front of civil servants. When they talked about it, they were powerful and the contrast was a bit obvious.

This sounds a bit harsh to the civil servants.One of them, Fang Yuegong, immediately asked: "They have a large number of people. They captured Baoding and Tongzhou and surrounded the capital. Isn't the momentum greater?"

After Zhou Yuji heard this, he stepped out of the queue and replied: "During the siege, the rebels and the captives will inevitably suffer heavy losses. As long as they hold on and fall, the siege party will lose more than the gain!"

"..."

The civil and military sides debated in front of the emperor.The general principle is actually that the civil servants were worried and thought that the emperor should hurry up and order the king to be on the safe side; but the generals thought that if they defend the city first and then fight, there should still be a chance.

Emperor Chongzhen listened to them arguing, but he himself was also lost in thinking.

If you were Dorgon, what would you do next?If you were Li Zicheng, what would you do next?
To make such an assumption, one premise is that you must know something about this person, otherwise it is just a wild guess!

Fortunately, these two people are very famous people in history. Their deeds were known to Emperor Chongzhen in later generations. After combining them, we can probably know what kind of people these two people are!

Under the debate between civil and military officials, Emperor Chongzhen made assumptions and slowly gained a clearer understanding of the situation at hand.

Then, he saw that the civil and military officials were still debating, so he interrupted them and said: "Baoding has already given a lot of food and grass supplies before, and the soldiers and civilians of Baoding have experienced large defensive battles. I believe that Baoding will not have any problems in the short term." questionable."

At this point, he saw that Fan Jingwen seemed to want to speak, so he added further: "Whether it's Jianlu or Li's army, if they want to capture Baoding, they will have to pay a heavy price. I predict that both of them will have no troops. We may have to bear the cost of losing a lot of troops and generals at this time, and it will be impossible to attack the city with all our strength."

As soon as Fan Jingwen heard this, he thought about it and said no more.

Emperor Chongzhen continued: "Tongzhou is a place where grain and grass are stored. Although a lot of grain and grass have been transported to the capital, there is still a lot left. Liu Jiuqing?"

When Liu Jiuqing heard this, he immediately stepped out of the queue and clasped his fists and shouted: "The general is here!"

Emperor Chongzhen looked at him and said, "Please lead your troops to station in Tongzhou!"

"The general obeys the order!" Liu Jiuqing heard the order and immediately loudly accepted the order.

Tongzhou is the terminus of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. All goods are unloaded in Tongzhou and then transferred to the capital.Therefore, Tongzhou was very important as a distribution center for goods. If it was in the hands of the imperial court, it could also become a powerful force with the capital.Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen made this arrangement.

Afterwards, Emperor Chongzhen said to all the civil and military officials in the palace: "Although the combined armies of Jianlu and Li thieves seem to be more powerful, in my eyes, it was God who helped me and gave me a chance to defeat them."

The civil and military officials in the palace couldn't help but be a little confused after hearing this.

What does the emperor mean by this?It would be difficult to defeat one of them alone, but now they can defeat them together?
People on the civil servants' side were even thinking that it wasn't the emperor who wanted to comfort them and appease their hearts, right?

Although the people on the military generals' side couldn't figure it out, they already had some confidence in the emperor after fighting with the emperor, and they had more trust in the emperor than the civil servants.

I heard Emperor Chongzhen say to Zhou Yuji and others: "During this period, we will deploy more elite troops to stay at night, equip them with sophisticated ordnance, and find out the movements of the rebel army. There must be no mistakes!"

"The general will obey the order!" After hearing this, Zhou Yuji and others immediately clasped their fists and loudly accepted the order.Afterwards, the military meeting ended, and the civil and military officials went back to work.As soon as they left, Wang Chengen, who had been accompanying the emperor, couldn't help but ask Emperor Chongzhen: "Long live my Lord, I am so stupid that I can't think of any clever ideas to defeat the enemy? Why does the enemy have more chances when it becomes stronger?" "

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen smiled slightly and said: "The time, place and people are favorable!"

Wang Chengen: "..."

Having said this doesn’t mean that I didn’t say it!However, you cannot deny that there is something wrong with this answer!

Seeing him like this, Emperor Chongzhen revealed a little bit: "Jianlu are natives of Liaodong and can't stand the heat. It's already July and August, which is the hot season in the pass. They must be intolerant of this climate. If one is not good, Then you will become dissatisfied with the climate, and this is the right time!"

When Wang Chengen heard this, he couldn't help but suddenly realized: "Long live the Holy Ming! Only then did I remember that Jianlu liked to wait for the cold weather to enter the pass. It turned out to be because of this. Now I understand!"

Emperor Chongzhen actually hasn't elaborated yet. For example, in such a hot weather, the armor on his body is really unwearable.Wearing cotton armor, iron armor, leather armor, etc. on your body will definitely make you sweat, and you will collapse, not to mention fighting with all your strength!This is also the reason why Emperor Chongzhen believed that major offensive and defensive battles were not easy to occur.

He then said to Wang Chengen: "The so-called geographical advantage is that we have a strong city to use, and the army of Jianlu and Li thieves must have many soldiers living in camps. The conditions for food, accommodation and transportation are rudimentary. The capital is supplied with food and grass, so their soldiers must endure more!"

"Long live my Lord, you are so thoughtful, I never thought of this!"

Faced with Wang Chengen's flattery, Emperor Chongzhen smiled slightly and said: "As for harmony, can the army of Jianlu and Li thieves win the hearts of the people? I don't need to say this, right?"

After hearing this, Wang Chengen nodded repeatedly, with a look on his face and said: "Long live the Lord is so right. The right time, place and people are on the court's side. The court will definitely be able to defeat those rebels!"

After finishing speaking, he suddenly came back to his senses.It seems that what Long Live the Lord said has nothing to do with the two bandit armies uniting, right?

He wanted to ask again, but he was afraid that he would make the emperor unhappy by being critical, so he finally decided not to ask.Anyway, for him, in the end, he will do whatever the emperor says.As for the rest, what does it have to do with him?
Emperor Chongzhen did not explain to him the ideas for defeating these two groups of thieves, but continued to be busy improving the strength of his troops.

………………

Emperor Chongzhen was absolutely right about one thing, and that was the weather.

For Jianlu, this weather is really a disaster for them.

The cicada kept screaming and the sweat on his body kept flowing. Even if he was hiding in the tent, it was sweltering.So many Jianlu were naked when they were in the camp, but even so, they still felt hot.

The army was stationed here, and there was a triangle lake, which was later known as Dongdian Lake. It was a very large lake.At least there is water. People eat horse chews, so there is no need to worry about water.

But no matter what, the mosquitoes, rats, ants, and the hot weather made every Jianlu very irritable.

Finally, some Jianlu couldn't stand the weather and fell ill.

Some Jianlu, although not sick under the influence of this weather, were more irritable than before.For the Eight Banners of the Han Army and Shang Kexi's subordinates, even if there were military orders, they could not help but vent their temper.

At first, he was scolded, then beaten, and things gradually became more and more serious. Daishan handled several serious incidents and even killed a few.

But in this kind of weather, the real Jianru people still blamed the Han people in their army for the sins they suffered.If it weren't for their rebellion, why would the Qing army have suffered this crime!As a result, the conflict between the built captives, mainly the Manchus, and the Han people in their army continued.

Basically, it was the Manchus who bullied the Han people in their army. If it didn't work violently, it would be more subtle.Anyway, until these irritating days end, this kind of bullying will never end.

Even later, at the junction of the Jianlu army and Li Zicheng's army, soldiers from both sides met, and conflicts gradually began.

"Look, their hair is really pig tails!"

"It's so weird, it's really ugly!"

"Damn it, who are you talking about? They're a bunch of Chinese dogs, they know nothing!"

"Who are you scolding? You are just stupid dogs and a bunch of barbarians!"

"..."

First there was a verbal conflict, and later, of course, there was a fist fight.Those with money and money tails may not be real Jianlu, but Han people who surrendered to Jianlu, otherwise they may not understand the words of the soldiers of the Dashun Army.

They were bullied by their masters, and most of them could only endure it. But facing the Dashun Army, in their eyes, they were just thieves, and naturally they could no longer endure it.

As a result, the Jianlu army and the Dashun army were allies from the beginning, but gradually became incompatible.Of course, this is only among the lower-level soldiers.For the senior leaders of the two militaries, this is still the honeymoon period of cooperation.

Therefore, most of the conflicts between the soldiers below were strictly stopped by both sides and they restrained themselves.

However, this did not prevent the discord between the lower-level soldiers of the two armies from being reflected in the war.

There were no major battles, but the scout battles were fierce.However, whether it was Jianlu or Dashun's Tanma, as long as they saw the other party fighting the Ming army at night, they would stand by and watch instead of stepping forward to help.And there is a tacit understanding between the two parties that they will never report this situation.

Therefore, Dorgon was a little bit emotional: "I didn't expect that Ye Bushou sent by the Emperor of Ming Dynasty would be so elite. Facing the probing horses of Qing Dynasty and Dashun Kingdom, they did not fall behind. They are still unable to shield the capital."

Daishan is also a little intolerable to the climate in the pass, even though he lives in Tianjin City, in a big mansion, with maids to serve him.He was listless. When he heard Dorgon's words, he said worriedly: "Two to three thousand soldiers in the army have fallen ill, and at least more than 300 people have died. This is only July, and there are still August and September to go through. It’s a little difficult!”

If this is what he feels, it is naturally not comparable to Dorgon in his youth.

Hearing this, Dorgon was not worried and said: "This is better than attacking the city, then it won't be a matter of hundreds of people dying."

After hearing this, Daishan did not deny this, but he always felt that life like this was difficult. If he were younger, it would be more enjoyable to fight!
He was silent for a moment, and then said to Dorgon: "That Li Zicheng just stood still, so he was unable to put more pressure on the Ming Emperor. There are more troops than us. If he turns around and takes the capital, It’s not easy to deal with either!”

This time, Dorgon nodded after listening and said somewhat seriously: "Originally, I heard that he once attacked Baoding and lost a lot of troops, and when he passed by Baoding later, he was humiliated by the Baoding people. This time If we come here, we will definitely capture Baoding. Unexpectedly, we didn’t even fight once. Li Zicheng is indeed a tyrant!"

After saying this, he thought for a moment and then said: "Perhaps after Mandahai returns with his troops, we can discuss it with Li Zicheng. We can't just waste it like this, but we can lure Li Zicheng's troops into action."

After Li Zicheng's troops arrived, the Qing Dynasty could safely divide its troops and let Mandahai lead [-] troops to attack Shandong and go to supply food and grass for the army.In this way, there is no need to worry that the Ming Emperor will lead his troops to bypass them and ambush the partial division of Mandahai.

After hearing this, Daishan nodded and was about to speak when he heard noise coming from outside. He really said, "Say Cao Cao, and Cao Cao is here." He saw Man Dahai, covered in sweat, following a guard into the lobby. appear before them.

(End of this chapter)