Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 333
The situation in the Huaixi area suddenly relaxed. Although the begging army did not have Zhao'an after all, Song Qingshu donated 20 taels of silver to Fengyang Mansion to rebuild the imperial tomb with great fanfare, and a thief donated to repair the imperial tomb The huge sum of money is also a matter of great face to the imperial court. After hearing the news, Emperor Chongzhen even smiled and praised the righteous people for the first time. Immediately, the Ministry of War ordered Ma Shiying, the governor of Lufeng, to continue recruiting begging troops.

However, the progress of this negotiation slowed down. The high officials of the Ming Dynasty were really good at talking big words, and Ma Shiying was no exception. The Huaiyou commander he promised was a blank check. The Zhao'an ambassador from Fengyang came from the north in the early morning, and then went south in the evening. He was still having a meal in Qianshan at noon. It seemed that the conversation was lively, but in fact, the defense area, establishment, official position, salary and so on in the rear of Zhao'an No substantive content was discussed, and the matter just dragged on indefinitely.

This Ma Shiying reported the progress of the reconstruction of the imperial mausoleum to the capital every day, drawing the court's attention to the imperial mausoleum, and the Qihuo army occupying the most important strategic location in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River was not so eye-catching.

A few days ago, Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng finally listened to it after a while, and waited and watched the major events predicted by Song Qingshu, but it was exactly in Song Qingshu's arms, seize all the time, begging the living army to step up and strengthen the river defense of Anqing City .

Dabie Mountain is really a treasure land. In addition to the rugged terrain and lack of available farmland, there are coal, steel, granite gemstones, almost all kinds of mines. There are iron mines near Tiantangzhai, and there are coal mines in Huoshan. In February of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Qihuo Army The first batch of Hongyi cannons forged by myself was also released.

This time, there were more than twenty outdated general cannons, and fifty pig iron forts were installed on the fort made of three sections of cement. It is not easy to transport it out of the mountain. Not to mention choosing a wide road around the foot of the mountain, sixteen horses can pull two cannons. The Duoyun inspection department seized by the army was cast in the blacksmith's shop. It was supervised by Sun Daqi, who was left behind in Tiantangzhai after the original Duoyun inspection, and took refuge in the begging army. It took more than three months to cast it, and it took more than a month to transport it out of the mountain.

"Hey, pull! Hey, pull!"

It is not easy to install this thing, the carriage parked directly beside the fort, the captain of the beggar army chanted, and those thugs who were wiped out of Anqing City acted as coolies, and set up tripods on the side of the fort. Only by pulling the pulley together, a cannon was hoisted, moved to the cannon position with great effort, and placed on the prepared fort.

The installation is so laborious, and it took only three days to install thirty doors. Let alone retreating to the Liaodong battlefield to fight the Jurchen, whose mobility is much higher than his own. I don't even want to equip this thing in the field army.

But looking at the young men under his command at work, and looking at the black red cannon exuding a metallic luster, Song Qingshu was still full of pride. The Hongyi cannons in Ningyuan are inferior, and the cost is much lower.

When Tang Ruowang, his half master, cast cannons for the Ministry of Industry in the capital, the cost of each Hongyi cannon was 3000 taels to 5000 taels. After layers of unspoken rules, the copper materials and craftsmen purchased by the Ministry of Industry were expensive. For the steel produced in Huojun's own mine, the craftsmen paid more than the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry, but the cost of one course was only 500 taels.

Before and after the Liaodong War, the imperial court equipped the Ming army with more than 300 Hongyi cannons. Now Anqing’s firepower has caught up to one-sixth of the imperial court’s, with a range of three to four kilometers, basically able to hit the other side of the Yangtze River. When the navy comes again, it is estimated that they will not even have the opportunity to dock at the mouth of the lake on the opposite bank to form an array, so they will be cut so that the mother will not recognize it.

And this time the turret has been improved a lot compared to the last one. The chain type is adopted. The circular shaft that rotates left and right is hooped with a long chain, and a steel runner is connected behind it. It weighs more than two tons and then holds the gun body Turning is already very difficult, but relying on the wheel, two people can easily and quickly adjust the direction of the cannon. The angle is also similar to that of the chain handle. When patrolling the river, Song Qingshu can't help but hope that the Jiangnan Navy will fight again.

It really makes you come here whatever you want in your heart. Song Qingshu was looking at the Yangtze River, and a flat boat suddenly appeared in front of his eyes along the downstream. Surrounded by strong guards, an old man in a blue robe, who was about fifty years old, but had no beard, disembarked from the port.

Looking at the banner, Song Qingshu had already greeted them before they entered Anqing City. Seeing Song Qingshu in military uniform coming to patrol, the old man and the guards clasped their fists and bowed to salute.

"Meet the Master!"

"How is the matter going?" It was a rare occasion, Song Qingshu's voice was a little hurried, but the old man couldn't help showing an excited expression: "Thanks to the great blessing of the commander, I got in touch with that person. "

…………

It’s true that people can’t be judged by appearances, small people can be of great use sometimes, this old man is no one else, the Qingpao eunuch Jiao Dalin, who was sent by the Qin Palace to hunt down and kill Song Qingshu, was captured, and joined the begging army. In the army, he has been doing odd jobs for the army in logistics. No one would have thought that this humble person could be a key. He and the eunuch Cui Si, the eunuch in charge of Nanjing, are from the same hometown.

The two entered the palace together during the Wanli period. They started as eunuchs together, and the palace was dangerous. Assigned to the Eastern Palace, as the prince's subordinates, the fate of the two began to take two completely different paths.

Emperor Wanli didn't like the crown prince, and he hoped that King Lifu would be the crown prince. That's well known in the world. Before we parted, Jiao Dalin told Cui Siduo to take care of himself. Who knew that the crown prince Zhu Changluo survived the battle for the country and became the emperor. He was known as Taichang Emperor in history. .

It's a pity that Emperor Taichang was an unlucky and short-lived emperor. He managed to kill Emperor Wanli. Just a month after he ascended the throne, the Hongwan case made him pass away again. The officials supported Zhu Changluo's eldest son Zhu Youxiao as Emperor Tianqi. Cui Si was assigned to King Xin as an old man under the crown prince. His life is really good. King Xin Zhu Youjian will also ascend the throne in the future, and he will be Emperor Chongzhen.

Although Cui Si was not as good as Cao Huachun, Wang Chengen, Wang Zhixin, Fang Zhenghua and other great eunuchs, he was still at the level of Yan Siyin, much better than Yan Siyin. After all, the eunuchs guarding Nanzhili were among the top eunuchs in the world.

After a while in Qianshan County, Ruan Dacheng obviously took a fancy to Song Qingshu, who had the background of King Fu. The letter couldn't match him, and at this time Jiao Dalin came out and said that from the mouth of the captured Yangtze River navy officer, the Nanjing guard seemed to be from his hometown.

Now Song Qingshu is really overjoyed, Jiao Dalin can be regarded as the veteran of the beggar army, he is also unsuspecting in employing people, and directly gives him 3000 taels of gold, and asks him to take it to Nanzhili to identify the family, if it is, he will use his relationship Hand over the money, if there is a relationship with Nanjing guards, the power of the Qihuo Army in Nanzhili will be guaranteed.

This Jiao Dalin really lived up to expectations.

Immediately after Song Qingshu returned to the Anqing government office, and screened everyone away, Song Qingshu couldn't help asking excitedly: "Old Jiao, tell me quickly, what does Nanjing look like?"

"Back to Commander, things didn't go so smoothly this time. At the beginning Cui Zhenshou was really full of people, and the young ones didn't dare to expose it. The door didn't accept him at all. There was no other way. They waited at the gate of the guardian. Shuai Hongfu Qitian, on the second day, just in time for Cui Zhenshou to discuss matters with the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, when he came back, he recognized the little one at the gate."

Thinking of this experience, the poor brother who was stabbed together is now rich and powerful, but he still looks like this, Jiao Dalin's old face is also quite helpless, sighed, and held his fist again. Explained: "Cui Zhenshou is still nostalgic, the younger one didn't reveal our relationship with the beggar army, he just said that something bad happened in the Qin Palace, escaped, and took refuge in a businessman as a teacher, and visited Cui Zhenshou on behalf of the master, and wanted to be linked. As for the relationship, Cui Zhenshou agreed without hesitation, and he didn't ask for any gold, so in the end, the younger one forced to keep 1000 taels, and the remaining 2000 taels of gold were brought back and returned to the commander in chief!"

Eunuchs are not all sinister villains, they also have stalwart husbands, like Zheng He, the eunuch of the Three Treasures, Wang Chengen, the eunuch who accompanied Emperor Chongzhen to hang himself, and Fang Zhenghua, the eunuch who broke into the palace and resisted desperately by Li Zicheng. He can be regarded as an insidious eunuch, but in the Qihuo army, no one treats him as an eunuch, but treats him as a normal person. According to Song Qingshu's order, he is only a eunuch with physical disabilities and does not belong to a special class. As time passed, the green-robed eunuch actually changed a bit. If other eunuchs would have embezzled the remaining 2000 taels of gold, he would have taken it all back.

"You don't need to pay it back. You have made great contributions this time, Lao Jiao, and I will reward you." Loyalty must be praised, otherwise who would be loyal to you, like Emperor Chongzhen, who almost killed loyal ministers, In the end, he was surrounded by young men, and Song Qingshu had been the leader for so many years, so he naturally understood this, and waved his hand very generously.

"Marshal Xie, little one, there is one more thing to do little one."

After receiving the reward, Jiao Dalin didn't seem happy, on the contrary he still hesitated, Song Qingshu couldn't help being surprised.

"what happened?"

"Cui Zhenshou also wants to keep the younger one in the Zhenshou Department as the eunuch of Bingbi."

"Oh?"

Song Qingshu stood up in surprise...

(End of this chapter)