Baidu otaku as Chongzhen

Chapter 412 What the Emperor Wants to Do

Liu Yanyuan got a rewarding errand, and when he got off the court, he took a carriage and went straight to the outer city, where the garment factory was located. Tens of thousands of cotton coats had already been made, waiting for his order to set off to The towns of Gansu and Ningxia gave away. Liu Yanyuan felt happy when he thought about the 80 sets of cotton-padded clothes he handed out. It is not easy to be an official and make some achievements. It is not easy to do something worth talking about. These 80 Ten thousand sets of cotton-padded clothes is indeed a commendable thing. Even if these 80 sets are called a million cotton-padded clothes, there is nothing wrong with it. One million sets, think about it, what an incredible number...

……

In an elegantly decorated teahouse, it seemed very quiet. Several men who looked quite official were drinking tea leisurely in this teahouse.

Going to a teahouse to drink tea is far less popular in the north than in the south. The north is more accustomed to going to a restaurant. However, since it is said that you can meet the emperor in micro-clothes in a teahouse, this teahouse has become popular all of a sudden, and many places have popped up one after another. There are teahouses, some are noble and elegantly decorated, and some are lively and lively. Anyway, teahouses of all sizes in the capital can be regarded as three steps per building, five steps per floor, quite popular.

This elegantly decorated tea house is very quiet, except for a few men drinking tea, there is no one else. These people are all old, and the youngest is in his 40s. There are also those with goose skin and white hair.Anyone who is familiar with the officialdom will find that these people are not simple, they are all ministers in the court.

"What do you guys think of today?" A voice suddenly asked.

"The 400 million taels of silver?" A man who was watching the outside by the window agreed, turning his head while talking.

"Yes, and no." The man who asked the question just took a sip of tea and said casually.

"If you want to talk about the 400 million taels of silver, I can only say that Your Majesty is so generous..." The man standing by the window quickly replied.

"Hmph, His Majesty is willing to share 400 million taels of silver. It's really unexpected!" The man sipping tea just now snorted and said.

"Do you know where the money comes from?" The old man sitting in the middle suddenly interjected with a smile.

"Master Zhang, didn't you get this money from those nobles?" The man standing by the window asked.

"Hehe, that's right. Among them, 100 million taels are the dividends from Liulizhai, and 300 million taels are the silver invested by those nobles. The name here, hehe, His Majesty's plan is not small! Hehehe..." The name and surname Zhang's old man said with a complex smile in his eyes.

"The prosperity of the world is for profit, and the hustle and bustle of the world is for profit. This is human nature. Your Majesty's good method is very accurate! Alas..., the world is about to change..." Sitting sipping tea just now The man sighed.

There was silence in the tea room for a while.

"Liu Yanyuan is lucky! He got such a good job today. Let him do it by himself. Look, this newspaper will have to publicize him on the front page..." Standing The person in front of the window opened the curtain and looked outside for a long time, and suddenly sighed like this.

"Hehe, Mr. Li, don't envy Liu Yanyuan. He is a member of the imperial party. His Majesty has good things to do, so naturally he has to take care of him. Tsk tsk, 80 sets of cotton clothes! Just send it out like this, this favor, this face The seller, the one named Liu, I'm afraid that he will die in the future..." another man drinking tea next to him interrupted.

"Huh..., to spread money to win the hearts of the people, and to distribute military uniforms to win the hearts of the soldiers, what is your Majesty doing? To do..., alas... I don't know how the childish rope is taught, but I have taught such a strange majesty, Really..." An old man who had been sitting by the side suddenly said quite dissatisfied, and wanted to say that word, but when the word came to his mouth, he retracted it. , if it comes true, then I don't know how many people's heads will fall.

"My lord, please keep your voice down, lest the walls have ears. Although Jinyiwei and Dongchang are as ostentatious as before, I heard that they are better than before... If nothing else, let's just say that on the grassland, who Whoever followed the Tartars and who sincerely followed me, Ming Dynasty, they all clearly distinguish, and they have the final say on which family should be bloodbathed, and the grassland is full of blood and blood today! I don’t know how many Mongolians died because of them Die, hehe, my lord, don't think that they are more refined than before..., hehe..." The man standing by the window smiled and reminded the person who spoke rudely just now.

The person who was dissatisfied just now did not give up because of others' warnings, and instead said: "I believe everyone knows the meaning of XX, don't you have any opinions? Let Your Majesty be so nonsense? This is still Da Ming's world What?" The old man said with disdain and anger.

"Oh, I can't say that. I think your majesty is a genius! He is extremely intelligent and unique in the world. Although the things he does are often unimaginable, they are all wise moves. It is said that he is a genius once in 500 years. It is not too much to be a holy king..., not to mention that your Majesty is not yet crowned, if this continues, a ZTE great rule can be expected, and a prosperous age can be expected..." The old man surnamed Zhang sitting in the middle suddenly said, his tone full of enthusiasm. Feeling, full of a trace of pity and helplessness and contradictions.

"Huh... the sage who comes out every 500 years? Everyone, don't forget, what did the sage 200 years ago do? Hmph, everyone wants to try what it's like to peel the skin and fill it with grass. See what your majesty is doing now. What he did, cutting power and eunuchs, training new troops, taking military power, and earning money to support the army, now it’s time to distribute money to buy the hearts of the people, contact nobles, and give rewards to buy the hearts of the soldiers. Humph, this is not obvious, there will be big Do you want to move? Hmph, although His Majesty is smart, what you do cannot be hidden from other people's eyes! If this goes on, I think you can enjoy what it is to peel off the skin and fill it with grass... The old man has made it clear here Said, Your Majesty wants to be an independent husband..." The old man suddenly revealed the truth and said something that made everyone present tremble with fear.

Everything about the emperor is basically transparent. Living in a Forbidden City that attracts everyone's attention, there are no secrets that cannot be kept. Anyone who is willing to figure it out will figure out a lot of things.

The old man's words made everyone present bow their heads and pretended not to hear them. Just bury the words in their hearts. It would be bad to say them out, or they would even be regarded as treasonous.However, what the old man said was true. There were various indications that the emperor's actions were getting bigger and bigger, and there were quite bad signs, which were quite dangerous.

Everyone present pretended not to hear it, and the one leaning against the window looked at the street. Many people on the street were running to the outer city. When they were fascinated, they suddenly said: "The world All prosperity is for profit, and all the hustle and bustle in the world is for profit..."

A younger man who had been sitting silently beside him said: "My lords, in my opinion, it's better to find some benefits first. Now it's all benefits from the north, and His Majesty has to take care of it. Someday, a certain one will also get some benefits." Memorial, find some benefits for me in the south, hehe, Your Majesty has plenty of money... As for those things, I don't think so, Your Majesty is a smart person, and His Majesty will not do such a thing that shakes the foundation of the country. What's more, there is a famine inside and a strong enemy outside, your Majesty is so smart, how could he do such a foolish thing?"

"Huh..., you guys are here to make friends with each other. In the future, when that man becomes full-fledged, it will definitely lead to a catastrophe, so I will put it down first." After finishing speaking, the old man left in a huff.

The teahouse fell silent. This topic is obviously very dangerous. Although the scholars have been suppressing and restricting the imperial power, they have been fighting against the imperial power and have repeatedly gained the upper hand. However, the situation is far worse than that of the current emperor. As complicated as it is, many people have complicated and contradictory feelings.

The corruption outside the pass, the famine inside, and the flames of war have already made the Ming Dynasty look a bit apocalyptic. As soon as the emperor came to power, he made frequent moves, and what he did was beyond the understanding of too many people. A great Ming Dynasty with an apocalyptic taste has been brought back. Now, it is okay to say that the world is peaceful. Such a natural disaster in Shaanxi has not caused any major disasters. There are even legendary things like killing officials and not rebelling. It is unimaginable that outside the customs, it is rare to take the initiative to attack the Eastern captives and Mongols. From the current situation, they still have a slight upper hand, at least killing the Mongols enough. Each of these actions requires a large sum of money. As for the money, the emperor basically solved it by himself, and by the way, many people made a lot of money from it.In terms of the government affairs of the imperial court, this one doesn't care too much. Many things are directly entrusted to them, the courtiers, without even asking the slightest question. From this point of view, this emperor is also a relatively easy-going emperor, not a fussy The emperor, working under him, is quite relaxed.But now, the emperor's actions have become more and more obvious. Although it may not be in that direction, in short, some people have already smelled danger.The struggle between imperial power and scholars has never stopped.

All kinds of circumstances made the people in this teahouse have their own thoughts.

"Hmph... Master Li is right. You all blinded your eyes for the benefit, and didn't even think about what His Majesty wants to do today. Hmph, I'm afraid many people have bought a lot of stocks and are waiting Let the stock go up..., hmph, farewell..." Another official present said goodbye.

The teahouse fell silent again.

"Actually, Your Majesty is very easy to speak, and it may not be as scary as Master Li and Master Zhang said. Hehe, Sun Zhisheng is not in control of the new army now. Generals such as Man Gui and Zhao Lijiao have to listen to it." Sun Zhisheng? Didn’t such a big matter of immigration be handed over to Xu Zixian? The immigration officers are all this year’s Enke Jinshi and the students of the Imperial College... Isn’t it Yuan Ziru who is confronting Donglu outside the pass? , Most of you have the final say? In my opinion, you don’t need to be too panic..., but you made things out of hand..." The man leaning against the window laughed.

Some of the remaining people nodded, while others remained indifferent and noncommittal.

……

Zhenjiang Fort.

Mao Wenlong is convening the generals to sort out the results of the battle, sum up experience, and discuss the size of the credit.

"Staff Zhang, please tell us about today's results and losses," Mao Wenlong said.

"Of order, Commander, today, our Zhenjiang Fort estimated that we killed more than [-] enemies, but the actual number of heads we got was not many, only three or four hundred... and we also destroyed seven cannons of the Tartars... "

"... I injured thousands of brothers in Zhenjiang Fort, and died four to five hundred. The loss was quite large, mainly due to the heavy losses on that section of the wall. In addition, nearly ten thousand grenades were consumed, countless cannons and gunpowder... others Some knives, shields, bows and arrows are useless..." Zhang Heng introduced calmly.

"Okay! Today's battle, thanks to the desperate efforts of all the ministries, especially that section of the wall, has shown the character of my Dongjiang man. If you die, you will also die with the tartar... This is what I, Mao Wenlong, want. A person who is not afraid of death... In addition, thanks to Staff Officer Zhang's decisiveness, the commander-in-chief gave up the two sections of the wall in time, and did not continue to add troops, otherwise, more brothers would have to be killed or injured..., this This time, thanks to Staff Officer Zhang..." Mao Wenlong praised.

"The commander-in-chief has won the award. It is the duty of the subordinate officials to advise the commander-in-chief. The subordinate officials also have mistakes and shortcomings. They have not been able to knock down the cannons of the Tartars for a long time, which caused the walls of my Zhenjiang Fort to be blown down. It took a long time to cause so many deaths and injuries of brothers, and the lower officials are also responsible..." Zhang Heng has always been worried about this point in his heart, his cannon is better than the Tartars, his gunners are better However, in this life-and-death battle, they did not play their due role, and let the Tartars' cannons crash down the walls of Zhenjiang Fort in a safe and sound way, and they left smoothly. Unforgivable, Zhang Heng blamed himself quite a bit.

All the generals were silent, and each of them said in their hearts that Zhang Heng couldn't be blamed for this incident, but the Tartars were too powerful for daring to bring the cannon so close.

After a while, when no one spoke, a veteran officer suddenly said: "Master Zhang, I have seen the pit dug by the Tartars. It is indeed a good way to defend against our firearms. It is really difficult for ordinary firearms to penetrate into that hole." Ditch, I heard people talk about it before, saying that there is a kind of flower bomb, which will explode when hit there, it is really powerful, I think, if Mr. Zhang’s cannon can fire this kind of flower bomb, I think, it is far better than the solid one The iron bullets are much more powerful, even if the Tatars dug a hole, just a few rounds of explosive bullets around the trench are enough to make the Tartars' cannons unable to fire..." An old general saw Zhang Heng seemed to be very concerned about this matter, and his mood was not high. Out of gratitude, he mentioned something he had heard before.

"Blooming bombs? Really?" Zhang Heng asked in surprise. Why is it so difficult to destroy the Tartar cannons? The reason is the trench. The Tartar cannons first smashed the city wall, so that Zhenjiang Fort could not face it directly. In this way, most of the cannons can only hit the mound above the trench, or jump out of the way, or sink into the soil, so the results are delayed.If there were flower bombs, the groove would be flattened in a few shots, and the cannon would be blown up. With such a sharp weapon, how could Zhang Heng not be surprised!

"Indeed, Mr. Zhang, as I remember, the name of this flower bomb seems to be called Thunderbolt Cannon. It is said that the shell is cast with pig iron and contains one liter, two liters or three liters of gunpowder. It is fired from a cannon. It is quite large, and it is a sharp weapon for attacking cities and breaking walls." said the veteran.

"It's true!" Zhang Heng stood up excitedly. Now his shells are all solid. It is very difficult to hit this kind of cannon with a cover. If there is one that can explode, the power of the cannon will be much greater. The kind of cannon with a bunker is quite easy.

"My lord, I've only heard about the humble position, but I haven't seen it, but it should be there. Maybe someone in the military will understand..." the veteran said.

"Okay! So, thank you General Huang. This time, you have been of great help. In the future, I will definitely make the Tartars look good and avenge the brothers who died today..." Zhang Heng's mind was changed, and he didn't know. How happy I am, since this veteran can be called by name, it will be easy to deal with. With explosive ammunition, it is no longer difficult to deal with the Tartar cannons.

Just as they were talking, a small school suddenly shouted outside: "Report..." and hurried in.

When Mao Wenlong heard the yell, he immediately stood up. It wasn't a big accident, and the captains who sent the order would not be so nervous.

"What's the matter?" Mao Wenlong shouted.

"Back to Commander, the Tartars are digging trenches wantonly..." the captain who delivered the order said loudly.

"Dig a lot of trenches?" Mao Wenlong asked in surprise, digging a few holes can make Zhenjiang Fort suffer a lot, dig a lot of trenches..., then...

"Let's go up the city wall..." Mao Wenlong took the lead and rushed out without hesitation.

On the city wall, there were already many soldiers watching, pointing from time to time, and without binoculars, they could clearly see the scene of the Tartars digging trenches in the distance.

Mao Wenlong looked in surprise at the scene of the Tartars digging trenches in the distance. It was really a massive digging. There were probably no less than ten thousand people digging the trenches.

Mao Wenlong pulled out the binoculars and observed carefully.

After a while, he said: "The Tartars are indeed digging trenches... What a despicable method!" Mao Wenlong said.

The entourage and the generals were all very angry.

"Marshal, this tartar is so shameless, he has started to act like a ground mouse, where are there such pit diggers in war?" A general said angrily.

Mao Wenlong didn't speak for a long time, thinking about the impact of digging trenches on his Zhenjiang Fort.

"It must be that the Tartars were afraid of our Franglers and our grenades, thinking that they dug a pit and could hide in it..."

"Commander, don't the Tartars want to dig a tunnel to put gunpowder under our Zhenjiang Fort?" A general's face changed dramatically.

Mao Wenlong's complexion instantly became extremely gloomy.

"Marshal, it's okay, the officials have their own way to deal with this move of the Tartars, so you don't have to worry about it." Zhang Heng saw the scene of the Tartars digging a trench, but he already had a plan in mind.

Only then did Mao Wenlong's complexion improve. There were too few people in his Zhenjiang Fort, and he relied on the hand grenade as a weapon for defending the city, so he dared to tease the Tartars in Zhenjiang Fort. If the Tartars came down from the ground, they would really be a trouble.

(End of this chapter)