Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 257: The Town Patrol Causes Trouble

In September of the 13th year of Jiazhao, the summer heat subsided and autumn began to emerge.

On the outskirts of the western city of Shenjing, there is a large firearms workshop. Under the strict order of the emperor, the Ministry of Works and the Construction Department worked hard to speed up the construction, and it was completed in less than a month.

The Firearms Department of the Ministry of Industry recruited and trained about 200 porcelain craftsmen, blacksmiths, pyrotechnicians, and skilled craftsmen from all over the country, and had them move into the Firearms Workshop in batches.

These people will not be allowed to leave until the beginning of next spring.

The firearms workshop was closely guarded by five hundred imperial guards day and night, and any unauthorized personnel approaching the area within the five-arrow range would be driven away.

Following Jia Cong's suggestion, the close relatives of these craftsmen were also moved to Shenjing in batches for centralized residence and management.

Jia Cong did this because the confidentiality of the porcelain thunder was as important as its extraordinary power.

Therefore, the number of craftsmen cannot be too many to reduce the probability of information diffusion.

At the same time, strict confidentiality management is implemented for the craftsmen who enter the workshop to build the building.

It was an honor for an ordinary family to move into the capital of a dynasty, but for the craftsmen in the firearms workshop, it was also a hindrance and deterrence.

The Firearms Department also provided resettlement money to the families of these craftsmen so that they could settle down and live in the prosperous capital. This was very thoughtful and considerate.

But tied to the welfare are responsibilities. Once a craftsman leaks information or even collaborates with the enemy, they will be in calamity and their family will be destroyed.

Emperor Jiazhao asked the Firearms Bureau to complete the construction of 3,000 porcelain mines before the end of the year, which was not an easy task.

The thickness, size, internal specifications, etc. of the outer body of the porcelain thunder fired by the porcelain craftsman have strict regulations and dimensions.

In order to allow the predetermined gunpowder and explosives to be loaded into the porcelain body, the thickness of the porcelain wall must match the gunpowder equivalent so that it can be detonated smoothly.

All these details are to ensure the normal lethality of the porcelain mine explosion.

The ratio of gunpowder, the size of iron chips and explosives, the filling density, every detail is very particular.

It often happens that a whole batch of porcelain fired by porcelain workers is unqualified and has to be smashed into pieces and re-fired.

Ensuring the normal power of the porcelain mines is a matter of military and national importance, and there is no room for slackness.

In the process of mass production of porcelain mines, such rework occurs from time to time and is unavoidable.

This also resulted in a lack of time to complete the 3,000 porcelain mines by the end of the year.

However, after calculations by Jia Cong and Liu Shizhen, as long as they worked day and night to complete the construction quantity assigned by the emperor, it would still be within a controllable range.

Liu Shizhen almost lived and ate in the firearm workshop, and devoted himself to supervising construction affairs.

Jia Cong has been very busy recently, running between the Firearms Workshop and the Ministry of War every day.

Because of the obvious increase in slanderous reports coming to the Ministry of War recently, the war in Liaodong is gradually escalating.

……

It is autumn now, but winter has arrived earlier in areas outside the Great Wall than in other places.

In order to store supplies for the winter, the Jurchen tribes began to loot and attack the border towns and cities in Liaodong of the Great Zhou Dynasty more and more frequently.

When the retired emperor was in power, in order to restrain and appease the brave Jurchen tribes, he divided the Liaodong Jurchen tribes into three guards.

The three guards were independent of each other and checked and balanced each other, making it easier for the Great Zhou to control them.

At the same time, after the Jurchens established their army, they also restrained the eastward expansion of Goryeo in the north, which was a two-birds-with-one-stone strategy.

However, Goryeo was unwilling to be controlled by the Great Zhou and prevented the Jurchen tribes from completely turning to the Great Zhou.

He closed the Qingyuanji border between Goryeo and the Jurchens for trade, and deployed heavy troops on the border to suppress the Jurchen tribes.

The Jurchen tribes lost their source of daily necessities, ran short of food, and their daily livelihood became increasingly difficult.

However, the merchants of the Great Zhou Dynasty who were transporting goods to the north drove up the prices, and the increasingly impoverished Jurchen tribes were simply unable to afford them.

This situation, accumulating over time, finally leads to disaster!

……

The Jurchens, who were born between the White Mountains and the Black Waters, were not bound by Confucian etiquette and believed only in the logic of the strong. If they had no money or food to survive the winter, they would just rob and kill!

Under the premise of survival crisis, the three Jurchen guards, which had been acting independently, gradually resolved their conflicts and formed a united force, which greatly increased the pressure on the Liaodong border town of the Great Zhou.

Since the beginning of September, the outpost fort protruding fifty miles from the Liaodong border town of the Great Zhou Dynasty has been continuously invaded and occupied by the Jurchen cavalry.

There were often small-scale tug-of-war battles between the two sides, with each side winning and losing, and the war became increasingly suspicious. …

As reports of battles from border towns came in frequently, all government offices in the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty began to operate at a higher speed and with greater efficiency than usual.

During this period, Guo Lin, on the orders of Emperor Jiazhao, came to the Firearms Workshop twice to check the progress of the production of various types of firearms, and the atmosphere became increasingly tense.

In the garden, Nanny Zhao told Jia Cong that her son Guo Zhigui would go home to visit her every day off, but he did not go home yesterday.

A large amount of firearm ammunition produced by the firearm workshop was also shipped one after another.

A few days later, Jia Cong learned from the documents of the Ministry of War that Emperor Jia Zhao had mobilized a thousand firearms soldiers from the five military camps and urgently marched to the Liaodong border town.

Jia Cong guessed that Guo Zhigui was among those recruited. Since the mobilization of troops was a confidential matter, he did not return home to visit his mother on his day off.

……

As the situation became increasingly tense, the court's inspection of the nine borders became more urgent, and the determination of the candidates for the nine provincial governors also became imminent.

At this critical moment, a ballad began to be sung among children in the market. It was called a ballad but was actually a short poem.

The Nuzhen people from Liaoguan came out of Baishan, and beacon fires from the nine borders rose into the sky.

I request to employ Xie Anshi of Yangxia to assist the king in suppressing the barbarians.

In fact, such things are very common in the capital. Many famous scholars hold literary gatherings or banquets, and any excellent works produced will always be circulated in the market in various ways.

The poem about plum blossoms that Jia Cong wrote at the Nanxi Literary Meeting was concise and catchy, and could be sung by children in the streets like a nursery rhyme.

It also earned him a lot of fame.

From a literal sense, this poem is very consistent with the current situation. The poem mentions that the Jurchens are currently invading the Liaodong border town and expresses the ambition to assist the king in quelling the rebellion.

However, some knowledgeable people, knowing the origin and background of this poem, as well as the sensitive allusions used in the poem, could not help but feel a sense of shuddering.

……

Everyone in Shenjing City knows that Prince Beijing Shui Rong is young and handsome, courteous to others, humble and respectful, and a leader among the young nobles.

Prince Beijing Shui Rong liked to gather famous writers and poets to drink and chat at his house, which he considered an elegant activity.

At the beginning of September, he held an Autumn Chrysanthemum Poetry Banquet at the Prince of Beijing's Mansion. It was said to be unprecedented in grandeur, even better than the Nanxi Literary Gathering held by Prince Jiashun in the past.

The poetry banquet invited more than a hundred famous scholars to drink, recite poetry, and talk about the world. It became a widely-known event in the capital city.

It is said that afterwards, Beijing Wang Shui Rong said with some pride about the grand poetry banquet: All the famous scholars from the sea who came to the capital all paid special attention to me.

Originally, although this self-satisfied statement was a bit arrogant, there was nothing wrong with it. It was just boasting that he was courteous to the wise and humble, and that all the famous people on the sea admired and worshipped him.

But when the ballad that was said to have come from the Qiu Ju Poetry Banquet and was now sung by children in the streets, it became known to more and more people.

The poetry banquet hosted by Prince Beijing, which was originally full of literary talent, immediately changed its flavor as if it had been touched by gold and turned into stone.

The key to the problem lies in the sentence in the poem: I seek to employ Xie Anshi of Yangxia to assist you in suppressing the barbarians.

Xie Anshi is Xie An, a famous official of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. At that time, the Eastern Jin Dynasty was attacked by the Former Qin Dynasty and lost several states in succession. The country was on the verge of collapse.

As the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Jin Dynasty's fight against the Former Qin Dynasty, Xie An turned the tide. In the Battle of Feishui, he defeated the Former Qin army, which was said to be one million strong, with only 80,000 troops, thus allowing the Eastern Jin Dynasty to survive.

Xie An took advantage of the great victory and sent his clansman Xie Xuan to sweep up the lost territories, and successively conquered the six states of Luoyang, Xu, Yan, Qing, Si, Yu and Liang, thus greatly strengthening the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Thanks to this battle, Xie An became famous in history and became a powerful official in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

At that time, Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was very wary of Xie An, but because of his unparalleled achievements, he could do nothing about him.

In this poem that came out of the Qiu Ju Poetry Banquet, the poet compared Beijing Prince Shui Rong to Xie An, saying that he had the ability to help the emperor quell border troubles.

On the surface, it seems to be flattery, but if you look deeper into its meaning, it is somewhat hurtful.

Prince Beijing can be compared to Xie An, which means he has the power to rule the world and control the king!

If all this can only be regarded as speculation.

But King Beijing said those complacent words again: All the famous people from the sea who came to the capital were favored by him.

It's almost like hitting oneself in the mouth, which just becomes a footnote to the disrespect in the poem.

This sentence is not about boasting about the grand poetry banquet, but in contrast with this poem, it is clearly a boast about his world-renowned reputation, the crowds of followers, and his talent.

(End of this chapter)