Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 86 Heroes Rise in the Central Plains (Part 2)

Hong Chengchou seemed to be boasting a bit.

This guy actually boasted that he had defeated the rebels.

That's perfect, right? Twenty thousand men can defeat a group of rebels gathered together?

Now that the rebels have scattered into dozens of groups, shouldn't it be no problem for 20,000 troops to rush over and defeat the scattered rebels one by one?

At this point, there's no reason to say we need to recruit more troops; 20,000 troops are enough.

Zhu Jue immediately issued an imperial edict ordering Hong Chengchou to pursue and suppress the scattered rebels.

Are 20,000 troops really enough?
Were the rebels really defeated as Hong Chengchou boasted?
At this time, the Central Plains were covered in snow, frozen for thousands of miles, and even the Yellow River was frozen.

Dozens of rebel groups running around everywhere are no problem at all.

They've all raised their banners and are recruiting men.

What kind of kings are they: kings of chaos, kings of order, kings of prosperity, kings of change, and kings of contention?

What are the Heavenly Kings, the Four Heavenly Kings, the Obedient Heavenly King, the Climbing Heavenly King, the Equal Heavenly King, and the Soaring Heavenly King?

There are countless rebel kings, such as those who "shoot down the sky," "break through the sky," "pass through the stars," and "fill the sky with stars."

They all recruited a considerable number of men. Those who dared to call themselves kings had at least several thousand men. Those with only a few hundred or a thousand men wouldn't dare to call themselves kings.

Not to mention the rebel leader Gao Yingxiang and the Eighth King Zhang Xianzhong, they also had money and supplies from who-knows-where, and the number of troops they recruited was in the tens of thousands.

In the Central Plains, heroes rose up, vying for supremacy.

It seems that the Central Plains are not as severely affected by the disaster as Shaanxi and Shanxi at this time. Why are so many rebel kings able to recruit so many troops as soon as they come here?

This brings us to those feudal lords.

During the Ming Dynasty, as many as eleven princes were enfeoffed in Henan, and nine of them still exist today!
At least 80% of the land in the Central Plains was annexed by these vassal kings, and at least 10% was annexed by corrupt officials.

Li Panlong, a scholar during the Jiajing reign, once lamented, "Only fragrant grasses remain on the road of princes, not entering the vermilion gates of imperial princes."

This means that, apart from the official roads, all other lands in the Central Plains had been annexed by the Ming imperial family and their princes!

Perhaps this statement is a bit exaggerated, but it's pretty close to the truth.

All these fields have been annexed by the feudal lords; how are the people of the Central Plains supposed to survive?

Their only option was to become tenant farmers for the princes, renting land to cultivate and make a living.

In a normal year, they wouldn't starve to the point of rebellion, but if a natural disaster occurs and grain production decreases, then it's all over. Even if all the grain they grow is given to the vassal king as rent, it won't be enough. They will have no choice but to eat grass, soil, and tree bark!

Therefore, when the folk song "Welcome King Chuang, no more taxes" came out in history, the people of the Central Plains flocked to it and all followed King Chuang Li Zicheng in rebellion.

This "not paying grain" does not mean not paying taxes to the imperial court. This is because more than 90% of the land in the Central Plains does not belong to the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty's land tax is one-twentieth of the total. This amount of tax will not cause ordinary people to go hungry.

This "no grain tax" means no grain tax or rent is paid to the princes and corrupt officials. This rent is calculated based on the normal yield of the land, and is at least 60-70%, and sometimes as high as 70-80%. In other words, if a natural disaster causes a reduction in grain production of more than 30%, most people in the Central Plains will have nothing to eat.

The princes and members of the royal family were rich but heartless, and they deserved to die.

Zhu Jue naturally wouldn't bother with these guys; the most important thing right now was to defend against the Jurchens.

Around 9 a.m. that morning, the sun was high in the sky and the weather was quite nice. He then led Wang Chengen, Fang Zhenghua, and others to the camp in the northeast corner of the eastern city.

At this moment, the camp was filled with the sounds of commands and the neighing of warhorses, creating a lively atmosphere.

The warhorses from the border towns were sent over 30,000 before the ice froze, because the three powerful clans of Puzhou simply couldn't delay any longer. The warhorses from the three border towns of Shaanxi were almost here, but the warhorses from the three border towns of Shanxi hadn't arrived yet, which was simply unreasonable.

The current Beijing garrison has 30,000 cavalry, 30,000 chariot soldiers, and over a thousand chariots. The Great Training Ground is so large that it seems almost too small to accommodate them all.

The area outside the barracks, next to the stoves, was now filled with stables, turning the original main road into a narrow path.

When Lu Xiang-sheng saw that the current emperor had arrived, he hurriedly led Sun Ying-yuan, Zhou Yu-ji, and Huang De-gong to ride up and greet him.

They didn't go up to the command platform at this moment, because the wind was howling there and it would freeze a person to death. They would rather train the soldiers down there.

Zhu Juena showed no intention of going up to the command platform. He stopped his horse and asked directly, "Jiandou, how is the training of these 50,000 soldiers going?"

Lu Xiang-sheng cautiously said, "Your Majesty, although they cannot yet be called elite troops with a hundred battles under their belts, they are certainly capable of fighting the Jurchens."

That's good.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then asked, "What about muskets? Do they all know how to use them?"

This is naturally impossible.

Lu Xiang-sheng explained in detail: "Your Majesty, nowadays there are limited bullets for firearms, and not many soldiers have actually fired firearms. Moreover, half of the chariot soldiers have to push the chariots, and there are also those who are responsible for watching the horses, delivering things, and giving orders. At most, there can only be five soldiers standing in each chariot."

Therefore, I had ten thousand chariot soldiers practice loading bullets, but only about a thousand actually fired a musket.

At this point, musket bullets cannot be reloaded, which is a problem.

If reloading is required, copper cartridge cases must be used so that the bullet and cartridge case can be pressed tightly together by manpower. Nowadays, steel cartridge cases cannot be pressed by manpower and require special equipment.

Furthermore, ordinary steel is not as tough as copper. When it is made as thin as copper sheet, it becomes somewhat brittle. When the gunpowder explodes, the cartridge case will develop tiny cracks and cannot be reused.

It seems too late to improve the bullets now. The copper cartridge cases require special stamping equipment, and Bi Maokang and Song Yingxing are both too busy to develop the stamping equipment.

It seems we can only produce more bullets on top of what we already have. After all, 30,000 chariot soldiers only need 10,000 muskets, and the capital has only just frozen over. There are still at least four months before the ice and snow melt, so producing 10,000 muskets is more than enough.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, and then decisively said, "Then let Meng Hou and the others make more bullets, and equip each musket with at least twenty rounds. Each of the ten thousand musketeers should fire a few shots to test their accuracy."

That would be great.

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

I'm even planning to equip you with cannons.

Zhu Jue pointed to a Wugang vehicle not far away: "Jian Dou, Meng Hou is developing a small cannon, the size of a tiger crouching cannon. We'll build a batch first and install one in each vehicle. We'll just open a round hole at the front of the vehicle and let the cannon barrel stick out a little."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng exclaimed with delight, "That's wonderful! When the enemy is still a mile away, we can fire our cannons to disrupt their front-line formation. Once the cavalry's front-line formation is disrupted, the rear will be in chaos, and their combat power will be reduced by at least half."

When cavalry charges, the front ranks must not be disorderly, because the cavalry charges at such a fast speed that if the front ranks are disorderly, the rear ranks will inevitably crash into them, creating a chaotic mess with no time to react.

This time, the Jurchen cavalry truly met their nemesis when they encountered the chariot troops of the Beijing garrison.

As they were discussing their plans, the sound of horses' hooves suddenly came from outside the camp.

Soon, the guard of the capital garrison, holding a memorial, hurried over and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, the Governor of Henan, Liu Zongzhou, has sent an urgent report from eight hundred li away."

This guy is really enthusiastic.

Zhu Jue took the memorial and was taken aback.

Liu Zongzhou reported that there are at least thirty rebel groups currently wreaking havoc in the Central Plains, with each group numbering in the thousands to tens of thousands. The total number of rebels is at least over one hundred thousand!
The rate of expansion is truly astonishing.

Hong Chengchou even boasted that he had defeated the rebels, and that the number of rebels, numbering from 20,000 to 30,000, had dwindled to over 100,000 in less than a month!

Is this what you call a collapse?

(End of this chapter)